Hello I’m Liz, a potter and creative director based in London.
From my garden studio in Forest Hill, South London, I work with porcelain clay to hand build my work using coils and carving techniques to create beautifully tactile and decorative objects for the home. My range currently includes hand built unique sculptural porcelain vessels which are based on the female body, as well as handmade bowls and spoons.
My process is deliberately slow and mindful, as I make my pots using the coiling technique rather than using a potter's wheel, it means no two objects are the same and my hand is very present on each one. It’s a technique which takes time and patience and I respond to each pot individually, making spontaneous decisions on the shape and pattern as I go along. Once each form is complete, using a pin I carefully carve repetitive and irregular hand drawn patterns of dots, circles and lines into the leather hard surface. These motifs are then inlaid with blue cobalt oxide and finished with a clear glaze or sometimes a handmade pink glaze. My vases reference the female form or Cycladic idols and celebrate the imperfections or marks we all carry on us from the life we’ve lived. I think they look best when displayed in clusters or family grouping so as to highlight their relationship with each other and the negative space between the pots.
The opposite of mass produced ceramics, I want to make things that last can be enjoyed in the home for years to come and passed onto future generations. I love working with porcelain, however I’m conscious that creating ceramics uses a lot of natural resources so I’m working towards making my business as sustainable as possible - sourcing local materials when available and using as few resources as I can.
MY JOURNEY
I first learnt how to make pots in the sanctuary of the pottery studio at a busy London comprehensive school and from there I went on to complete a BA in Ceramics at Cardiff School of Art and Design, where I fell in love with porcelain. After completing my degree in 1998, I had a studio and made sculptural wall pieces, but after some twists and turns eventually ended up back in London working for Tate and for the last 17 years at Art Fund - where I work as Head of Creative, managing the brand and overseeing the design studio.
However, a couple of years ago I became ill and the resulting break from work allowed me to slow down and reevaluate things. It was at this point I finally returned to clay after almost 20 years - first making in the evenings on my kitchen table, then attending an adult education class to refresh my skills. What started as a way to switch off from the hectic pace of life, turned into something more - and now in my London studio I continue to experiment with clay alongside working with photography and artist books.
PHOTOGRAPHY & ARTIST BOOKS
My photography practice focuses on the home, both the emotional relationship we have to it and the significance we give to the objects we choose to keep there. I’m interested in the idea that home is both a place of security but also confinement, there is darkness as well as happiness, it is a container for memories, secrets and stories. Within my work I’m also reflecting on the shifting relationship I have to my own home as I’ve transitioned from being a daughter to a wife to now a mother. In my photography I want to capture overlooked and unseen details, the mistakes, stains, blurred edges and cracks that are always present in our daily life but aren’t often celebrated. My artist books are in the special collections of Tate, V&A, and University of the Arts London and a book of my photographs has been published by Rizzoli.
To find out more, take a look at my CV
See some of my inspirations
Or follow me on instagram @liz_workman_