Located a short walk from Leeds train station and close to The Tetley, visitors won’t just be browsing ceramics, but stepping into the environment where they are made.

Previous stallholders have brought a wide range of ceramic practices, from everyday tableware and functional pottery to vessels and abstract sculpture.

What connects the work is not one particular style, but an attention to process, material and the decisions made along the way.

The market brings together their studio community, pottery students and visitors interested in discovering and supporting independent ceramic artists and makers.

Save the date! Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair (GNCCF) is the largest and most prestigious craft fair in the North and one of the leading fairs in the UK. Join for its 19th annual edition in the stunning historic Victoria Baths in Manchester.

A new 2 day ceramics festival in Yarm on Tees. 30+ potters, demonstrations, talks and more. Plenty of parking on site, and food and refreshments available.

This event is set to be a cracker! There is room for about 30 potters to book places to sell their wares. This is primarily an Northern Potters Association event.

The highlight of the event, and a real bonus will be the participation of Jessica Putnam-Philips from the USA as a speaker and demonstrator.

Over the past two years, the full-time Diploma students at Clay College, Stoke have been busy developing their skills through a programme of technical tutorials and creative exploration.

their Graduate Showcase is their opportunity to present their final collections of work, marking who they are as makers right now: thoughtful, skilled, experimental and full of potential.

Visitors can expect a vibrant display of contemporary ceramics, highlighting the diversity, skill and creative energy of these fourteen emerging studio potters at a pivotal moment in their careers.

One of the best parts? You’ll get to meet the graduates in person, hear the stories behind the pots, and even take a piece home—directly supporting them as they begin their journey as professional studio potters.

The second Ceramics Fair at Thoresby Park, Newark, Nottinghamshire!

A distinguished gathering, celebrating the timeless craft of ceramics and the artists who bring it to life.

Free entry, Car parking fees apply

This special event will feature a curated selection of ceramic works from both established and emerging artisans.

Join in honouring the beauty of handmade ceramics and supporting the vibrant talents shaping this tradition today.

Save the date!

Number Nine, The Marketplace is organising its third ceramics festival in partnership with Hornsea Museum, with free entry to the public.

They are looking for ceramic traders predominately, however consideration will be given to all artisan trader applications to ensure they have a full retail experience for visitors. See more on the Applying page.

Annual Manchester ceramics market, pottery sale and social and the first anniversary celebrating 1 year in their railway arch pottery studio.

Join for a glass of mulled wine over ceramics chat, and see their ever evolving and improving ceramics, which range from functional pots to sculptural crocks. Think butter dishes, lemon squeezers, massive mugs, and croissant plates. They’ll have more members showcasing some of their makes for the first time alongside their seasoned tutors. Grab a unique gift for your creative friends and family.

Friday 5th December from 5.30pm until late (arrive before 8pm)

Saturday 6th December from 10am-4pm.

Free street parking, 10 minutes walk from Piccadilly station

British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) is an arts organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent with a vision of making change through clay.

The next edition of the British Ceramics Biennial will run from 6 September to 19 October 2025, bringing together a dynamic programme of free exhibitions, screenings, talks and events that shine a light on Stoke-on-Trent’s industrial heritage and creative edge.

The full programme has now been released.

Download the full press release here

British Ceramics Biennial 2025 Programme

Award

British Ceramics Biennial’s headline exhibition celebrates the vitality of contemporary ceramics practice in the UK, with 10 artists selected from an open submission process to present ambitious new work and compete for the £10,000 BCB Award Prize. The 2025 Award artists are Kyra Cane, Fernando Casasempere, Noor Ali Chagani & Clio Lloyd-Jacob, Susan Hall, Leah Jensen, Charlotte Moore, Jane Perryman, Alison Rees, Daniel Silver and Jo Taylor. Award is the leading platform for contemporary ceramic practice in the UK.

Awarded

After winning the BCB Award Prize at the 2023 British Ceramics Biennial, Mella Shaw returns with a new work interrogating a little-known contribution to the global climate crisis. In this installation, large hand-built ceramic structures and dramatic lighting will explore the ethics and impact of harvesting polymetallic modules from the sea bed for use in electronics.

Fresh

The Fresh exhibition celebrates and promotes the new wave of artists working in clay. Twenty-five early career artists from the UK and Ireland are selected to take part, with four Fresh Talent Prizes given out during the Biennial. The 25 artists will be announced in the summer.

Fresh Talent

During the 2023 Biennial, five Fresh Talent Prizes were given to artists from Fresh, which included residencies with University of Staffordshire, Guldagergaard International Ceramics Research Center, Grymsdyke Farm, BCB Studio and Bolesławiec Cultural Centre . The artists showing the outcome of their residencies are Tim Fluck, Caroline Gray, Andrea Leigh, Chi Onwordi and Krzysztof Strzelecki.

People & Place Commission

BCB’s People & Place Commission sees artist Josie KO exploring the role of Black women in Stoke-on-Trent in The Chimney Princess. Inspired by the shape of Stoke-on-Trent’s iconic bottle kilns, Josie KO will create a new goddess for the city in collaboration with local communities. Standing five feet tall and hand built from black clay, the deity figure will be displayed ‘dancing’ on a spinning turntable in an installation setting inspired by Stoke-on-Trent’s Trentham Gardens.

Playscape

This experimental rammed earth architecture project is a response to learning that the central area of Stoke town currently lacks adequate children’s play facilities. Playscape is a collaboration between BCB Associate Artist Sarah Fraser, Tuckey Design Studio, rammed earth construction specialist Sami Akkach and University of Staffordshire Architecture students that will transform construction clay spoil into a children’s play space. Following a pilot phase, a temporary playscape environment will be shown at the Biennial, to test and inform an ambition to create a permanent rammed earth playscape for Stoke town. During BCB, families will be able to engage with the project and the rammed earth process in the engagement space.

Raverina’s Dance Floor

This interactive, sensory art installation by Portuguese artist Carolina Garfo is inspired by the ceramic practices of the Algarve and explores the intersection between sound and ceramics. The installation features a wave pool initiating a sound artwork with a projection of the artist’s fictional documentary film, ‘Raverina’.

Clay Films

This new element of the Biennial programme is an open submission opportunity for Global Majority artists of African and Caribbean heritage based anywhere in the world who work in film and clay. A panel of film experts, artists and curators will select 10 works for screening. Clay Films has been devised to reflect the expanding range of ways that artists work with clay, in this case showcasing the high quality of artist film work being made – an area of practice which has to date received limited exposure.

Ceramic Cities Exchange international partnership

This creative exchange programme connects Stoke-on-Trent with Bolesławiec, Poland – two cities sharing a rich ceramic heritage. The exchange will be captured in a film presented at the 2025 Biennial. Ceramic Cities Exchange is part of the British Council UK Poland Season 2025. BCB’s partnership with The Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec supports six artists aged 18–24 to gain international exposure and explore how ceramics heritage informs contemporary practice.

Clay Conference: From Waste to Resource: Circular Economies For Construction Clay Spoil

This conference, taking place on 2 October, forms a key part of British Ceramic Biennial’s 19-month research initiative focused on the creative re-use of construction clay spoil. The project explores the opportunities and challenges of re-using clay sourced from UK construction spoil across a range of scales – from individual artists and local communities to large-scale industrial applications.

Led by Claire Baily, a London-based artist, researcher and educator, the conference will present the research findings and build on its ideas through presentations, panel discussions and keynote speeches.

Slip Tales

Part of BCB’s year-round programme working with community groups in Stoke-on-Trent, Slip Tales is an exploration and appreciation of the history and heritage of Staffordshire slipware, which originated in the mid-17th century as elaborately decorated dishes with a distinctive application of the surface pattern design. The participants have created contemporary interpretations of slipware for this project, learning new clay skills and processes and exploring materials. By bringing people together in a creative setting, this collective, positive process supports the building of community cohesion and support networks. Their contemporary interpretations will be shown at the Biennial.

Clay play weekend is 24th - 26th May. 

24th May, 12-3pm - Seconds and cake sale

25th May, 11am-3pm - Open studio mini pre -booked workshops and drop in clay activities

26th May, 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm - 2 hour workshops, book here.

All profits are going towards maintaining and growing their studio space!

5th & 6th April and 12th & 13th April
10am - 5pm

This year’s event will see over 160 artists from across York opening their studios and welcoming visitors. This annual event gives a rare glimpse into the creative methods of artists and offers an opportunity to buy work directly from the artists themselves.

There are 19 ceramic artists listed on the website including Patricia Qua, Jane Blackman, Emily Stubbs and Ruth King.

6th December, 5.30pm-8pm and 7th December, 10am-4pm.

Coinciding with a move to a new larger premises, a short walk from Manchester's city centre, Seven Limes Pottery is holding their annual open studio. It'll be a first look at their new space, and is the perfect stop to enjoy a glass of mulled wine while perusing handmade ceramics: from functional pots for daily use to sculptural ceramic art works. There'll be a mix of samples, seconds and old stock at a reduced price and it's also a good opportunity to find out about the studio’s excellent pottery workshops.