I allowed my natural instincts to experiment

“The object has to transcend the joke” (Peter Lange)

In this interview Peter Lange is interviewed by Richard Fahey. Peter reflects on a career suffused by curiosity and constant experimentation mixed with a good dollop of playfulness and a slow burning touch of comedy.

Peter discusses the varied work history that preceded his becoming a production potter in the seventies. He explores the real-life repercussions of trade policy changes and how they shifted the entire playing field for local crafts people trying to compete with inexpensive, often poorly-made imports.

With a unique sense of humour, Peter delves into his past of slip casting and throwing individual pieces. He discusses his teapot period where the familiar objects got a facelift by using unusual materials such as concrete, sponges, gumboots and rocks.

This interview also sheds some light into Peter’s ability to push the boundaries of kiln-making by developing a style of “performance kiln” where the process of making pots becomes a theatrical experience fueled by accident, pyrotechnics and conceptualism.

Peter also reminiscences about his arrival at brick sculpting, a craft that has become recognizably his and combines the playfulness, wonderment and meticulous experimentation that have become Lange’s signature.