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Samuel Newman | Episode 1072
Samuel Newman, founder of Suay Ceramics, is a Portland-based potter who draws inspiration from his Pennsylvania roots and the values of community and craftsmanship. Samuel’s dynamic forms and atmospheric firings capture the creative journey, offering functional wares that foster meaningful connection and introspection through shared daily experiences.
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I’ve noticed that one of the things I love about your work is the handles. They are very important it feels like to you. Why is a handle such an important part of the design?
Yeah, you definitely hit the nail on the head there, Paul. I love the handles and I feel like there are three key elements to any pot. There’s the rim, the foot, and the handle and so I have taken a lot of time to develop the look of those handles and that’s how we humans often times interact with them. So the functionality of the work is important to me and so I put a lot of effort into the handles.
How do you know when a piece is balanced and all the parts fit together correctly and one part is not overpowering another? You have a lot of movement in your pieces so there’s a balancing act that is really important for yours. How do you know the balance is correct, is it a mathematical formula?
I think that’s right, there’s a real balance there. There’s not a mathematical formula or scientific process. It’s definitely something that I see and I feel and I get to that point through that iterative process and it starts with the forms and throwing and saying Yes, I like those proportions. I like the profile of the pot. I like the way it feels. But as I’ve evolved in my practice I start to do that same thing with finished pieces. Usually it’s like, This feels uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel right. I need to resolve that problem. Basically I continue to go until it feels resolved and feels right to me and that’s a very unscientific answer but that is the feeling it evokes.
Each of your cups is unique. Is that important for you to be unique?
You know, when I think about my origin story as a potter, something that I wanted and I aspired towards was to make something that felt different. The pots that you see day in and day out. So I was like, How do I throw something that just looks practiced and different. So I was really on a journey of trying to create a mug that felt unique and felt mine.
What’s got you excited in the studio right now? What’s a piece your working on that you are pumped about?
Yeah, I would say this Maker’s mug design that has added coils, it kind of looks like it was dissected or was it hand built or was it thrown? That’s one of the reasons I love the Maker’s mug because a maker picks it up and they are like, How is this made? But I have kind of moved past some of those ideas and I am trying some new things. So I have been having a lot of fun with these pitchers that have lots of different kind of curves and angles and I address the lip with those curves and the handle and the feet. My goal for 2024 is to take those same design aesthetics and turn them into a lamp and I just finished my first lamp this past weekend.
Is there a piece that you would like to make but you don’t have the skills yet to do?
You know, I feel like that might be the lamp. It’s kind of a hard question, Paul, I feel like I could make anything that I wanted to with clay. Whether it’s a tea pot or a plate, a bowl, a pitcher. Like I feel pretty confident in my ability to mold, throw, alter clay as a material but I started to get excited about how to get comfortable with other materials and the lamp, I think, provides a lot of opportunity for that.
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