Stoke-on-Trent

We had an interesting day with a group from the V&A Museum in London visiting the Wedgwood factory, the World of Wedgwood and the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent. I was thrilled to see the "Campanula" tea and coffee set (two pieces here) on display. It was owned by Karl Lagerfeld and bought from his estate recently, partly thanks to a grant from a charity of which I am a trustee.

In the extra is a glimpse of the winning entry for the Biennial's £10,000 award called "Sounding Line".  The ceramics are bone china - made from the ground up bones of a whale beached in Scotland.  Beachings have been linked to sound pollution particularly from ships. The red cords running down to the ceramics transmit recordings from ships made under water and translated into vibrations that you can feel if you hold the cord.  It is a moving way of calling attention to a problem of which we are barely aware but can be lethal to whales.