Contemporary Ceramics gallery and shop exhibits the greatest collectable names in British ceramics along with the most up and coming artists of today. Our distinguished makers are all carefully selected members of the Craft Potters Association.
All of our makers are members of the Craft Potters Association and each of them have a story to tell.
Growing up in communist Poland, Ania’s everyday life was underpinned and surrounded by stark, grey concrete structures – brutal, imposing, and unavoidable. This architecture was raw, substantial and woven into the history and fabric of the country and her upbringing.
Annabel was born in Germany and spent several years of her childhood in Egypt before coming to England in 1956. She discovered clay at Farnham Art School on Saturday morning classes in the early 1960s. After leaving school in 1967, she attended Winchester Art School, where she was introduced to conceptual art and concrete poetry, and then Croydon College of Art. She went on to gain a BA(Hons) in Sociology and a PhD in Lesbian History at Essex University, then introduced and taught Lesbian Studies at Birkbeck College for two years. In her early 40s, she returned to her first love of clay, as one of the initial students on the City Lit Ceramics Diploma course in 1989.
John Higgins has a degree in 3D Design / Ceramics from the College of Art Wolverhampton, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Art Education, from Sussex University. Throughout his career in education, he has continued to make his own ceramics. He has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally.
Doug works in red earthenware clay, the pots simply decorated, with appliqué decoration or sgraffito, using a basic palette of traditional slips that are made from natural raw materials. The majority of his pots are thrown on the wheel with some press moulded dishes, decorated with freely trailed lines.
Before Tony established his own studio in 1988, he studied ceramics and then worked in the ceramic industry in Stoke on Trent (including as a designer for Coalport China, part of Wedgwood). His background in the industry gave him a broad appreciation of ceramics and techniques. He is interested in the art ware produced by Royal Doulton in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but also fascinated by the work of French potters such as Clement Massier.
After a career in social work, Rachel moved to her partner’s home country of South Africa where her two children were born. The energy and beauty of the landscape, and the people, rich in making and creativity, rekindled her own love of art, architecture, design, and creativity.
