Put some great  food on a handmade plate, some fruit in a lovely handmade bowl, drink coffee from a handmade mug. You'll feel the difference, you'll see it. 

That's when functional pottery truly comes to life.
Years ago, just out of school, I gave a mug to a friend's husband who didn't really understand what the whole big deal about ceramics was, who needed all this handmade stuff - you know what I'm talking about...anyway, a few months later he told me that he drinks only out of the mug I gave him.

I truly believe that there is that magical feel using handmade ceramics.

instagram is definitely fun !  here are a bunch of shots from the studio.

I remember a throwing class at Alfred University, one of the first ones with Val Cushing. He asked us "how much should a mug weigh ?"
Numbers were thrown around, till my friend Matt Towers said - "however much it looks like it weighs". Bingo ! 
That's the exact match point in the eye-hand relationship.

 When we approach a mug, or any other functional pot, our eye (brain) sends our hand a message about what to expect as to the weight and feel to anticipate when lifting it (if full or empty). That's what makes a "good" pot, good in the sense of creating that match between the look and the feel. 

A mug , of course, has more aspects to it - a handle we can trust and a rim that is nice to put our lips to. In  addition are the personal-subjective prefferences we all have and those are what make the mug such an intimate, functional pot.