YIWA (Young International Woodfirers Association) was set up in 2006 by a small group of potters from France, Norway and New Zealand as a way of facilitating and enhancing contact between woodfiring potters. This initial group met more by coincidence than design as all were involved with firing a huge kiln in France in 2003 called the Historical Firing at Association Jacques Jeanneney (Association de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Potier en Puisaye - Association for the preservation of Puisaye potters cultural heritage).

The initial way that the organization was set up was for each country to have a nominated (or self appointed) contact and that potter linked up with others in their own country to expand the network.

Then in 2007 an opportunity arose for YIWA to piggyback an event on another pottery festival called La Borne S'enflamme. Philippe was the driving force behind this first YIWA event as it was his kiln that was taking part in the La Borne festival. It meant that, with little expense for anybody (other than the obvious airfares) a group of young woodfiring potters could meet in France and translate the ideals of the organization into a reality.

Charade Honey and I were the two New Zealanders taking part; Dave Zdrazil, Mike McGuire, Hillary Kane and Anthony Magnetti were the Americans attending and from France were Philippe Langlois and Frederic Thélinge

The YIWA event kicked off about the 1st July with everyone pitching their tents and settling into the studio. Over the next two weeks we dug clay from various fields, built and fired an experimental test kiln bolted onto the back of the main kiln, mixed up all sorts of clay mixtures, threw or handbuilt as many pots as possible and had a brilliant time. We feasted on shared meals and the number of left over wine and beer bottles were enough to build a bottle kiln (thanks to Yuri for the inspiration). We also visited Baillet, the local clay and crucible making factory and the city of Bourges. All this hectic activity culminated in the 4-day firing we had; almost every piece fitted in and the novel candling method from the American's deserves a whole article in ‘The Log Book’ magazine alone. The firing coincided with the only fine period of the French summer. Whilst the kiln cooled it gave us an ideal opportunity to meet the other participants of La Borne S'enflamme and see their kilns firing. It was a time of wandering through a tiny French village in the middle of the night clutching wine bottles and hunting for the glint of a chimney flame through the trees.

Our unloading was appropriately a party, a celebration that YIWA had worked. An outcome as important as whether any pots had been transformed by fire for the better.

One important result from all this activity was a clearer idea about where an organization like YIWA could head. We decided that the best option was for us to try and act as a linking organization. To hook up young potters who want to travel or work in a pottery with potteries that need work done. So we're borrowing ideas from the WWOOFer scheme, Myspace and formalising what already happens in a small and haphazard way anyway.

The next step for YIWA is to expand the website and for the potential connections between potters to start to happen. What we have done is set up a web site that young woodfiring potters can post up their profile, telling others about their education and experience, their expectations about their work and where they’d like to work or travel to. The other side of the site is potteries posting a profile about what kind of set-up they have, facilities like kilns, and projects they need help with and what they are prepared to offer in exchange for work.

We want everyone to be clear about what each party expects of the other, no hidden costs or unexpected snags. Clear communication is key, as is an expectation of being flexible. In the long term we see potters being able to hook up with a number of potteries around the world and to coordinate their travel according to working for a pottery or taking part in various woodfiring festivals. See here for the website details and to sign up. http://www.yiwa.org