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.
Akiko Hirai produces both practical and decorative ceramic ware that is held in private collections and museums worldwide. Her Japanese background and aesthetics strongly influence her ceramic work while her pieces are also perfectly rooted in contemporary designs.
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.
Jemma’s work explores the way that girls are generally constrained from birth to conform to an appearance and code of behaviour, to present a perfect face and maintain the expectations of others. The use of porcelain or stoneware with layered disrupted surfaces, describe the vulnerability beneath.
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.
Margaret was introduced to clay at Bolton College of Art and studied at Stoke-on-Trent School of Art under ex-Bernard Leach apprentice Derek Emms. It was here that she met her husband-to-be, David Frith. They established their first workshop in the mid sixties and have been based in their 18th Century woollen mill workshop in Denbigh, North Wales since 1976, where they continue after fifty years to teach and create their own work.
His work is influenced by landscape settings, especially the wild rugged beauty of Connemara and Donegal, and the dramatic West Wales coastline. He incorporates geological elements, natural colours, as well as the marks of human activity on the landscape into his vessels. He is interested in addressing the relationship we have with the landscape.
