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.
Simon spent his childhood fishing, drawing, and painting (usually creatures with sharp teeth). His first experience with clay was at the age of nine, throwing on the wheel under the guiding hands of Tessa Oates at Chipstead Craft Studios, later sculpting and modelling. He entered the world of graphic design and illustration, working in London design studios for a decade and then from his home in Kent.
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.
Ben’s work is mainly hand-built, wheel-thrown and altered using stoneware, porcelain, and high fired earthenware clays. Forms seek to utilise and respond to the malleability of the material with work being altered and assembled while still wet.
The majority of his work relies exclusively on the interaction between ash, clay and fire achieved through extended wood firings in an anagama type kiln. However, recent pieces are exploring the potentials of using earthenware clays to bring out the character and attitude in the work.
Born and brought up in Norwich, Richard has been making pots since the early 1970s. After studying for two years at Great Yarmouth College of Art, he worked from 1974 to 1980 at Le Dieu Pottery in Norwich before spending 3 years in Australia and New Zealand, and a further five in Germany.
He is inspired by Hungarian and Romanian slipware from the 1800s and by English country pottery. Recently his work has explored colour and abstract patterns in strong forms that capture the ebb and flow of the sea and the landscape of South West Dorset.
Clive Bowen was born in Cardiff in 1943. Initially studying painting and etching at Cardiff College of Art from 1960 to 1964, Clive went on to train as an apprentice with Michael Leach at the Yelland Pottery in North Devon from 1965 until 1969. He worked alongside Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge before setting up his own pottery in 1971 when he bought a small agricultural property at Shebbear, near Holsworthy in North Devon and set up a workshop in the former farm outhouses.
Sabine completed an apprenticeship as a thrower in 1998 with Hans Joachim Grünert in Waldenburg (Sachsen) in East Germany, followed by a three-year training as a production thrower where she was introduced to wood firing. She became enthralled by the high demands of wood-firing. In 2000, she came to England to gain more experience and met fellow potter, Nic Collins who became her partner. In 2001, she moved to Devon.
