In The Studio: Grayson Perry, artist

'I have to make things that interest me and give me, and the audience, a shock'

'It's about time a transvestite potter won the Turner Prize," Grayson Perry exclaimed on his win in 2003. That night he was dressed as Claire, his female alter ego, one of whose frocks hung in the exhibition alongside his pots, all full of his characteristic mixture of benign and provocative imagery.

Today he is making a set of clay trophies to present to his students at Central St Martins School of Art, who have competed in designing new outfits for Claire. Asked how he judges the work, he says it can be outrageous but must be functional and, crucially, dry-cleanable. "In the past," he smiles. "I had outfits that dissolved at the dry-cleaners, made by students who didn't bother to fix the dye or sew properly."

He is dressed in workmanlike clothes, as Claire is banned from the studio, and acknowledges that, as he gets older, Claire appears less frequently. Perhaps it is growing demand not only for his work but for his curatorial talents; the show he recently organised at the British Museum attracted well over 100,000 visitors. (Claire has, however, turned up in Perry's new Channel 4 programme.)

Walthamstow is not normally associated with trendy artists, but Perry, 52, has worked here for 11 years. The requirements were few, he says: a concrete floor, a door large enough to accommodate the kiln, and natural light. This property, a former shop with its metal-shutter-clad window, ticked all the boxes. Its distance from his central-London home has him on the lookout for a new space, though it has been good for him.

On a side table are two vases Perry says he has not allowed out of the studio. One features Alan Measles, his famed teddy bear (and author of his own blog), who has played an important role throughout Perry's career. The other is achingly beautiful, Japanese-inspired yet still recognisably English, decorated with images of buildings. "I have not decided about them yet," Perry explains. He unwraps a large work-in-progress bearing his more familiar incised marks. "This is how I usually decorate my pots," he says, but the Alan Measles pot "was made by the transfer method, something I eschew as it is too easy". He squints at it. "But that might be all right. The other? Well, it is too pretty, isn't it? I have to make things that interest me and give me a shock, and try and give that to the audience. But maybe it will come out eventually."

Grayson Perry's show at Victoria Miro Gallery, London runs to 11 August