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.
As a child, Jon loved drawing and messing about with mud. He and his brother and friends spent many joyful years roaming and exploring on the waste ground of empty housing plots. The exposed seams of soft yellow clay they discovered was perfect for making ‘weapons’ - squashed balls of clay on the ends of sticks. Although childhood has long passed, the activity has informed and inspired his approach to ceramic practice and his educational/community engagement work.
Stephen’s first pots were made at Soham Grammar School in the late 1960s-early 70s where his art teacher and early mentor, Peter Askem helped and encouraged his to move onto the Foundation Course in Art and Design at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology.
He then progressed onto the BA Hons course in 3D Design (Ceramics) at West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham. The tutors and visiting lecturers at Farnham included Sebastian Blackie and Mo Jupp. Stephen found the ‘Farnham experience’ to be life changing.
Carina trained as an industrial designer in Germany and specialised in furniture design. One day she found herself at a ceramic studio near her house. She had a sudden realisation that there was no difference between making a teapot or a chair because it's all about aesthetics: form, function, balance, and proportion.
Carina had no formal ceramic education and through apprenticeship, short courses, and residencies she has learned and worked with different clays in different parts of the world. She explores the potential and qualities of each clay body, a continuous conversation unfolding between the maker and the material.
Hannah creates both monoprints and ceramic work. There is a theme of interwoven methods throughout; each approach blending into the next, her unique creations embrace their strikingly different techniques. With purposeful brush strokes, stamps, pencil marks and carvings she creates fluid visual landscapes on the textures of canvas and smooth ceramic surfaces.
Born and raised in London, Diane graduated with a BA (Hons) in ceramics in 1988. It was during her foundation course in the 1980s that she fell in love with clay. It lit her up, and her lifelong passion began. Initially she was drawn to how immediate, tactile and responsive it was, but it was during her degree at Farnham that she discovered how truly versatile clay is as a creative medium for artistic expression.
John Pollex has carved his own niche into the world of studio pottery. Translating his interest in Zen calligraphy into the spontaneous and mesmerising display of colour his work is known for today.
