On Show at Ceramic Art London

On Show

I’m delighted to be exhibiting for the first time at Ceramic Art London. Most of my work is based on commissions where chefs have set ideas of what’s needed for their restaurant - mostly functional tableware with a difference. Examples of my past work can be viewed here. ‍ ‍Ceramic Art London has given me a long-awaited opportunity to show some personal projects that explore my meandering thoughts and focus.

Ceramic materials

Bone China is my first love, I specialise in it. I like its strength and find the material forgiving. Its strength comes from its softness; it’s not brittle, so it’s harder to chip and works well in restaurant settings.

Aside from its forgiving nature (other potters may disagree), it’s beautiful in its translucency and it paints on so well. But I do enjoy working with other clays, like porcelain or stoneware which will also be on show. I’m able to hand build with these clays which is the one thing that is very difficult with Bone China. As a result, I don’t have a style that connects my work through one clay. It’s just that I like working with the different characters of different materials.

I’ll be showing five collections

·       Funeral Urns

·       Clouds

·       Bottle kilns of Stoke-on-Trent

·       Illusion of Shape Mobiles

·       Coral Vessels

Funeral Urns

Having lost my father when I was 6, grief is a familiar friend. I’ve come to think that hard as it is, grief is an act of love with a somewhat sublime quality to it. I have in the past worked a lot on Kintsugi and the ideas around broken beauty. But when my grandmother died in 2025 (just a month short of her 100th birthday) I turned to a practical, functional solution to my grief and made a funeral urn for her ashes. In offering the urn to Ceramic Art London, I wanted it to act as a reminder of the short time we are on this journey.

Clouds

I observe and I’m curious about the world around me, trying to be open to its beauty. My antidote to the depressing news cycle is to focus on nature’s treasures, on those who are with me day to day, and the life springing through every crack.

Cloud patterns work well with Pâte-sur-pâte technique (painting and etching away white clay on coloured clay) as the translucent bone china gives an ethereal appearance. This range has made me look up and really see the sky, noting down the shapes, pattern and colours of the clouds.

Bottle kilns of Stoke-on-Trent

Since the 18th century, bottle kilns have shaped Stoke-on-Trent’s skyline. They are the iconic and recognisable shape of this area, more endearingly known as the Potteries. For this collection of vessels, layers of clay are applied to the surface and then taken away, to signify the smoke and smog of the area, and also the passing of time, where layers are applied and taken away.

Illusion of shape

Illusion of Shape is a contemplative exploration of form, fragility, and the forces that define our material and emotional worlds. Whilst making these pieces, I have been thinking about two things: what is the shape of the smallest thing? Are sub-atomic building blocks perfect spheres, or are they irregular and imperfect? Scientists don’t yet know but believe they have no shape in the traditional sense—they are point-like, tiny bundles of energy. When we imagine a material world built not of static forms, but of kinetic, ever-shifting energy, the very notions of perfection and imperfection feel less relevant. Kintsugi plays with the idea of illuminating the imperfect, something that feels real to most of us but the building blocks of matter point to the relevance of energy and connections.  Which leads to my other question: what is worthwhile living? So I’ve been making these finely balanced pieces thinking about feeling and connections.

Coral Vessels

A range of non-functional Vessels resembling coral – though no coral was harmed in the process! I wanted to explore different ways of building up form in bone china other than casting. They are experimental and expressive in both form and colour and were created by infusing organic structures with bone china.  I mostly used recycled slip from the making process.