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.
Bridget started making pots full-time while living in Scotland in 1976. At first, she made domestic stoneware, firing in a gas kiln and gained skills in all aspects of pottery. Having had no formal training Bridget’s determination and hard work meant she gradually developed her own technique.
She has always loved porcelain and gradually changed over to this material finding that it suited the style of work she was searching for. Eastern ceramics were very influential and she loved the Chinese and Korean shapes and glazes.
Motoko was born in 1962 in Tokyo. She graduated from Saitama University, and trained at the Takasaki College of Art. From 1993, Motoko spent six years working at the Utatsuama Craft Workshop and the Oshigahara Workshop, and then came to England in 1999.
John discovered ceramics while still at school in his native New Zealand. He was also inspired by watching a neighbour throwing a pot on the wheel and that cemented the desire to learn more. After attending night classes to learn the basic, he built a kiln and shed in the back garden to continue making and experimenting.
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.
Chris was born in 1959. His introduction to clay began at adult education classes in Islington. He went on to study Sculpture at St. Martins School of Art, London and graduated in 1982. Chris has moved around the country over the last decades. He helped set up the Chocolate Factory studios in Hackney, London in 1995. In 2006, he moved to Argyll, Scotland to set up another pottery. By 2009, Chris relocated to Cumbria setting up a new pottery in a converted farm building.
Jo specialises in wheel-thrown porcelain and works from her studio in Hackney, East London. Her practice includes hand-making a fine porcelain design range, lighting and unique objects. Her individual approach to wheel-thrown ceramics, where high-fired porcelain often appears paradoxically to be fresh off the wheel, balances softness with rigidity, smoothness with weight and tactility.
