Sue first picked up clay during A Levels and immediately made a connection with the material. As a farmer’s daughter, messing about with soil was second nature, but being able to construct and make vessels felt like another level. A part time job at a local pottery introduced her to production throwing and wider opportunities arose as she enrolled onto a Ceramics degree course.
She began to explore slip casting and model making, finding that turning plaster on a lathe was akin to turning ribbons of clay on a thrown bowl. The qualities of the materials are similar, each endeavouring to express a particular attribute. Winning an RSA Student Design Award with a placement at Wedgwood firmly rooted her interest in industrial ceramics, and a full time role as a shape designer followed.
She has continually moved between craft and industry, working in-house and freelance as a designer, and retreating to the comfort of the pottery studio, One practice informs the other – the processes are the same, but the scope of outcomes is very different.
The style of Sue’s work is influenced by industrial tableware, with a nod to Wedgwood’s Jasperware. Its pared-back forms have a direct correlation to her experience designing for a Swedish design company for 20 years. Functional tableware is central to her practice, as she seeks to balance the rigours of slip casting—which provides continuity of form—with the production of objects that feel familiar, are essentially useful, and are well crafted.
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y6
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y5
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y10
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y15
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y12
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y3
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y9
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y4
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y11
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y14
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y7
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y8
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y13
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y2
PRODUCT CODE:SP566Y1