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.
Björk’s professional background is in Architecture and her work remains unequivocally architectural to her eyes and is influenced by her training and profession in many ways. However, natural forms reflecting her upbringing in Iceland and exposure to the extraordinary in nature are also reference points.
As a rebellious schoolgirl, Tina always knew that she would go to art college as she absented herself from her maths lessons to go to exhibitions. In 1974, she commenced her BA in Ceramics at Bristol Polytechnic with a strong 2D portfolio but hardly any experience of working with clay and she found it challenging. Nevertheless, she was drawn to it because it was the only material which was so malleable, human, primal, intimate, flexible, fundamental, and could be adapted to suit all personalities.
Marcio Mattos became fascinated with clay after seeing an exhibition of tea ceremony bowls at the V&A museum many years ago. He went on to train at Richmond College and later for a degree at Goldsmiths College. He presently creates one-off sculptural vessels and plaques in black stoneware and porcelain paper clay with dry-glazed textural surfaces and brushed decoration.
Claire creates decorative smoke-fired pots. She chooses to use porcelain due to its strong resistance to wild temperature changes during the smoke-firing process. Her pots are not functional nor suitable for holding water due to the porous quality of the unglazed burnished clay which is necessary for smoke-firing.
Sean's love of slipware first began whilst attending the studio pottery course at Harrow College of Art in the late 1980s. Now 30 years and three workshops later he is still making slipware. Since 2007, after moving from London, Sean has been working in an old converted stone barn in Southern Brittany, France.
Award-winning artist, Ashraf Hanna works with the vessel to explore relations between profile, line, and space. Using a process of handbuilding, and working with colour and texture, Hanna examines the juxtaposition of sharp lines and soft curves.