Surprising celebrities with a passion for pottery

You’re never too famous to pot, it seems. With ceramics experiencing a huge surge in popularity, A-listers are getting on the act, building their own pottery studios in their mega mansions and waxing lyrical about the meditative act of throwing to their Instagram followers. One celebrity-ceramicist even has a work in the V&A. Read on for our cast of famous figures – from actors to a supermodel and a tennis star – going potty for pottery.

Seth Rogan

The Canadian actor and pothead – pun intended – is an avid convert to clay, regularly sharing his latest ashtrays and vases on Instagram. ‘There's something that's so therapeutic about it,’ Rogan told GQ. ‘It's like yoga, but if you got a thing at the end.’

Johnny Vegas

The comedian studied ceramics at university, and even has a wobbly work in the V&A – a teapot made live on stage in only 60 seconds. He told the BBC: ‘When I'm not trying to act or ranting at people on stage, I like to pot. For somebody that was struggling at school it literally saved me. It gave me a real belief in my ideas.’

Brad Pitt

The American A-lister loves ceramics so much, he even built a Pittery – sorry, a pottery – for his LA mansion, which Leonardo DiCaprio regularly visits for sculpting sessions. So far they’ve kept their pieces private, but we’re looking forward to glimpsing Pitt’s pots…

James Franco

The US actor collaborated with his brother, artist Tom Franco (above), to create huge ceramic sculptures from sewage pipes (no toilet humour, please). Measuring over seven feet tall, each was extruded then carved and glazed by the brothers.

Josh O’Connor

British actor Josh O’Connor is our ‘one to watch’. A friendship with LOEWE’s craft-obsessed creative director Jonathan Anderson sparked O’Connor’s love of clay – he now plans to start potting, while his Instagram is crammed with ceramic greats such as Lucie Rie.

It's not just actors who are getting their hands dirty. From tennis player Serena Williams to model Emily Ratajkowski, It-girls are busy swapping their handbags for hand-building. Vogue magazine even proclaimed ‘Pottery is the new yoga!’ – thanks to its mindfulness benefits that are backed up by science. When actor Shia LaBeouf confessed to feeling ‘deeply dissatisfied with life’, Kristen Stewart’s advice was: ‘Take a pottery class.’ Celebrity or not, we think it’s not a bad idea.