Covid-19 update: The gallery and shop on Great Russell Street is currently closed however, you can still see the pieces in this exhibition and shop online – just scroll down. To be the first to hear when we will re-open join our mailing list on the homepage.
About Emotions of the Inorganic
“What are our emotions?” – a question often asked within scientific communities working within artificial intelligence and neuroscience.
How we decide what we like or dislike, deciding what is beautiful or ugly, has interested ceramic artist Akiko Hirai for many years. Finding biological or chemical reactions, environments and the physicality of objects all to be connected, in this collection she makes associations between physical phenomenons, for example the reactions that happen within her kiln, and her own personal emotional input and output.
Using variations of wood ash and a range of firing cycles to create surface effects on the pieces in this collection, Akiko has harnessed the raw materials and reduction firing process to form unique sculptural pieces in reactive combinations that appear to drip with layers of colour and texture.
This exhibition profiles the works of eight esteemed makers, each of whom have recently been awarded Selected Member status by the Craft Potters Association.
Lise’s primary interests lie in creating decorative and sculptural forms with highly textured, expressive surfaces. The work is deeply rooted in the rugged landscape she grew up in in Norway, imbuing a sense of place, timelessness and quiet beauty within each piece, as if they were found, rather than made.
This exhibition profiles the works of ten esteemed makers, each of whom have recently been awarded Selected Member status by the Craft Potters Association.
As his working practice approaches fifty years, Jack Doherty’s work has become simpler and more focused. By stripping away what he considers unnecessary, Jack’s process now involves just one clay, one colouring mineral, and a single firing. For inspiration and courage, he looks back to prehistoric vessels, powerful anonymous objects that held both practical and spiritual significance in everyday life. These forms, made before art or craft, speak profoundly of their time and the people who lived with them.
“Simplicity is complexity resolved” - Constantin Brancusi
Lara Scobie is an Edinburgh based ceramic artist specialising in individual slip-cast vessels and bowls made in porcelain and parian clay. Focusing on the dynamic between form and pattern her work explores the cohesive integration of drawing, surface, mark making and volume. The off-center ellipses of the individual forms echo line drawings and decoration applied to the painted surfaces.
“The theme of balance is a constant, significantly underlining my current work in which ideas of dynamic interplay between form and surface develop.” – Lara Scobie
Sue’s work draws on the quiet resilience of trees and bones—forms shaped by time, marked by fragility and carrying memories of growth and decay. Through slow, receptive hand-building, each piece develops as if guided by an internal rhythm. Textured surfaces hold lines like weathered stories, while a soft matte glaze evokes a sense of calmness.
‘My hurt, my joy, my scars, my healing, all shape the work I create in clay.’ – Sue Mundy