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.
John left art school in 1970 and dug trenches for gas pipes for a living. Later, through his college friend’s brother (who was a potter) John worked for David Frith in North Wales. He found the discipline hard, but it has stood him in good stead ever since.
David was born in 1943 in Lancashire, he trained at Flintshire Technical College, Wimbledon School of Art, and Stoke on Trent College of Art, studying under Derek Emms. After meeting and marrying Margaret, a fellow potter, they established their first workshop in 1963 in Denbigh, North Wales.
David’s work descends from the Leach and British Studio Pottery tradition, where the aesthetics and ideologies of the East and West ignited a new tradition of high fired ceramics. He makes large bottles, jars and platters with a base celadon glaze decorated with his personal style of hakeme, rope impress and waxed motifs under heavy reduction overglazes and combined with ashed surfaces.
Kate studied 3D Design at the University of Brighton. After graduating, she participated in an international ceramic residency in Japan where she worked alongside established Japanese, Korean, and American artists. On her return, Kate set up her ceramic studio in London where she worked for nearly ten years. She now works from her garden studio in Kent making raku and stoneware pieces.
Jane completed a foundation course at Chelsea School of Art, before obtaining a Fine Art degree at Winchester School of Art. She works in paper porcelain, a sensitive medium. The malleable, translucent yet robust qualities of the combination of clay and paper enables her to construct and hand build. Rolling the clay eggshell thin, tearing and pushing it to its limits to the final firing, Jane is entirely absorbed by the process of making.
Jennifer works from her studio on the edge of Dartmoor in South Devon - a quiet space to develop her practice. She makes vessels inspired by ancient potters who remained closely attuned to their natural environment.
Vessels are hand-built from black, red, or white stoneware clays, using pinch and coil methods to preserve every mark and impression in the soft material. Using only a few simple tools, the process is slow and rhythmic. Surfaces are coated with thin layers of slips and glazes. The pattern left by the pinching process is accentuated as the glaze pools into the hollows. The colours are subtle, with occasional flashes of vibrant colour, all to be found within nature’s palette. Pieces may be fired several times, until a particular quality of colour and texture is achieved.
Geoffrey Swindell was born in Stoke-on-Trent. First studying painting, it wasn’t until he took up a summer job at the Pottery at Alton Towers that he decided to follow in the footsteps of his ancestor and become a potter.
