Turning Earth pottery 'gym' set to open second studio to cope with demand for hipster hobby

A former theatre manager who quit the stage for amateur ceramics is about to open her second “gym-membership”-style studio to cope with the demand from Londoners taking up pottery.

Applications to join Tallie Maughan’s existing Turning Earth studio in Hoxton have tripled recently and the new 8,500 sq ft studio set up in an old factory in Leyton has room for hundreds of potters when it opens next month.

Members are given equipment and sold their clay at cost price and a team of experts are on hand to give advice or help. Ms Maughan said: “The main thing we offer is an open-access membership, it’s a bit like a gym membership where you pay per month and come whenever you like.

Rather than people having to make the choice between taking a course for a couple of hours a week or committing to a degree or setting up on their own, we want people to be able to get stuck in on their own terms, in a way that fits in with their lives.”

Her first site in Whiston Road, Hoxton, which opened in 2013, has helped about 50 people turn the hobby into a profession. The new studio in Argall Avenue, which opens with a two-day market on March 11-12, will offer business classes and lessons in studio management. Membership is available from £150 a month.

Ms Maughan said: “The opening of Turning Earth E10 not only triples our capacity but also offers those makers who wish to develop professionally the space and guidance to do so.”

Ceramics has been growing in popularity, with course centres such as Morley College in Lambeth reporting “an upsurge” in people wanting to get involved in “hands-on creativity” and increasing numbers of people applying to show work at dedicated art fairs.

Ms Maughan said: “When people start realising the rat race doesn’t necessarily work for them, they start to think how to improve the quality of their life now rather than saving for the future and I think creativity is really important in that.”