Championing the very best independent ceramic makers for over 60 years

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.

 

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Meet Our Makers

All of our makers are members of the Craft Potters Association and each of them have a story to tell.

Stephen Murfitt

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.

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Taja

Taja came over to UK from his native country Japan to study oil painting and settled in Devon over 40 years ago. He was inspired by so many potters in the south west, so he started making pots using his friend’s pottery workshop. He is largely self-taught. He found that slab and coil built pottery suits him the most. He started experimenting with porcelain clay about 20 years ago after being inspired by enormous blue porcelain wall tiles at a new Japanese airport especially the water-like quality of the blue glaze.

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Jane Cox

Jane trained at Camberwell College of Art and at the Royal College of Art and has won several awards for her work including the Wedgwood Scholarship for surface design.

Working across a range of making methods; throwing, jolleying, casting and hand-building, pieces are designed to stand alone or as part of a set. Colour plays a central role in Jane’s work and she is greatly inspired by patterns found in nature and landscape, notably in France the Caribbean and the Isle of Wight.

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Carina Ciscato

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.

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Martin Pearce

Martin Pearce creates abstract sculptural pieces inspired by natural forms. His work often portrays a state of flux, with the quality of moving water or cloud forms, while other pieces appear as if they could be in quiet contemplation.

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Sophie MacCarthy

Sophie MacCarthy has always been drawn to random scatterings of leaves on the ground. Scatter and flow, rhythm and movement are consistent themes in the decoration of her earthenware pieces, along with a bold and joyous approach to colour.

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