Jacob van der Beugel received a history of art degree from York University in 2001. In 2014, he completed a major permanent installation at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, called The North Sketch Sequence, an immersive work in handmade ceramic panels that depicts the DNA of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. More recently he completed a ceramic installation called The DNA Room for the Dutch Royal family. He has been artist-in-residence at The Wallace Collection and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and he is currently artist-in-residence at Egenis, a world-renowned institute of data science. His work is collected internationally and held in numerous museum collections.

Jaejun Lee studied at the Seoul National University where he completed his bachelor degree and Masters in Fine Art in Ceramics. Since graduating, Lee has exhibited extensively across Korea and Europe, gaining international acclaim for his work. He moved to the UK from South Korea in 2018 with an Exceptional Talent visa. He now works for many prestigious UK craft galleries, and has solo exhibitions planned at London’s Contemporary Ceramics Centre (2024) and the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh (2026).

James Hake is a ceramic artist based in the north-west of England. After studying design at Manchester Metropolitan University, he trained in ceramics near Kilkenny in Ireland where the disciplined focus on technique gave him the tools and space to discover his individual style. Following a visit to the Arts and Crafts house Blackwell in 2001, his interest in Japanese ceramics took hold. He established his studio, a converted barn in rural north Lancashire, more than a decade ago. Today, his work combines simplicity of form with thick experimental glazes and a preference for locally sourced materials.

James Oughtibridge’s sculptures are inspired by the stunning Yorkshire Pennine landscape where his studio is situated. These natural elements of curves, textures and form are conveyed with each unique sculpture he creates. After graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2001, he set up a studio in London for several years before returning to his native Yorkshire in 2005. He has always strived to create bold, dramatic work that leaves the viewer wondering what it is made of and how it was made. His current projects see a move into bronze sculpture and some more monolithic, large-scale pieces.

Jennifer Lee is internationally recognised as a leading name in British studio ceramics. She attended Edinburgh College of Art in 1975, followed by a travelling scholarship to the USA. From 1980-83, she studied ceramics at the Royal College of Art, London. She is known for her hand-built pots that explore space and volume, simultaneously exuding movement and a quiet stillness. She has been artist-in-residence at Shigaraki Ceramic Culture Park and Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan. Lee has won numerous awards for her work and in 2018 she was awarded the prestigious LOEWE Craft Prize.

Jim Malone has been making pots for over 40 years. He has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad, and his work is represented in numerous private and public collections, including York Museum and Art Gallery and the V&A, London. Eschewing electric wheels, Malone works on a light oriental-type kick wheel, which demands sensitivity but allows a more intimate, expressive contact with the material. His glazes are made from unrefined materials such as granites, wood ashes, clays and silts gathered from the surrounding area in Cumbria, giving his pots greater character than their industrial counterparts.

Originally from South Korea, Jin Eui Kim now resides in Cardiff, UK. He obtained his MA and PhD in Ceramics from the Cardiff School of Art and Design and he is member of the Craft Potters Association (CPA). His impressive body of work has been exhibited around the world, and he has received numerous awards, including the Emmanuel Cooper Prize at Ceramic Art London 2018, and the Production fund (2018) and Stabilisation fund (2020) from the Arts Council of Wales to further develop his work. His pieces have been purchased by prestigious UK institutions for their permanent collections.

Johnny Vegas is a comedian, writer, actor and director, and a familiar face on our TV screens. His first love, however, was pottery and he gained a BA in Art & Ceramics from Middlesex University. He received plaudits for his ceramic work, leading to a role in ‘Pot Shots’ (collaborating with Roger Law), a film made for an international gathering of potters. This led to his work being acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2017, Vegas appeared as a guest judge on ‘The Great Pottery Throw Down’ alongside his former tutor, Kate Malone. He is one of the original supporters of FiredUp4.

Julian King-Salter was shown how to make a coil pot when he was 12, and he’s been making pottery ever since. He has always been fascinated by the different elements of a pot, and is increasingly working with the three-dimensionality of a piece, so each pot has infinite points of view. Glazes are developed experimentally according to the colour and textural responses of different raw materials. For King-Salter, making pots is an expression of energy in physical form, informed by the landscapes in which he’s lived, the interactions he’s experienced – the dance of life.

The art of Kate Daudy conveys a message of hope and redemption. On both an individual and societal level, she asks questions and invites active commitment from the viewer. Living and working in London, her observations have fed into an array of artistic disciplines including works on paper, textiles, sculpture, installation, film, books, performance and digital art. Her unique font is instantly recognisable, running throughout her oeuvre with lettering in felt, steel and bronze. Works by Daudy can be found in collections including the British Library, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Griffith Institute (University of Oxford).

Kate Malone is an internationally renowned artist known for her large sculptural vessels and rich, bright glazes, and her work is in collections worldwide. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1986 and has spent her career pioneering glazing techniques. The sophistication of her glazes has led to collaborations with prominent architects and designers, working on public art projects in hospitals, schools, parks and libraries. Malone has long been active in her work advocating the benefits of craft making in schools as part of a basic education for every child. She was a judge on two series of BBC2’s The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Lisa Hammond MBE works at Maze Hill Pottery, Greenwich, London. She has been making pots for best part of 40 years in which time she has taught extensively, taken on a dozen apprentices and pioneered soda glaze and shino firings. Her work embraces an extensive range of thrown functional ware and it is important to her that her pieces are used in daily life. The development of her work is a result of time spent in Japan, making, firing and exhibiting. Hammond is represented in galleries and museums both in the UK and internationally.

Lisa Katzenstein was born in the USA, lived in Italy between 1960-65, and has resided in the UK since 1965. She trained both at the Central School of Art & Design (1976-79,) and the Royal College of Art (1980-83.) Between 1984 and 2000, she was an independent tableware designer exporting to the USA, Europe and Japan. In 2001, she started to make one-off pieces in maiolica, re-visiting a love of tin-glazed earthenware she first encountered in her childhood in Rome. She continues to work in this medium, using plant and fruit imagery in a modern idiom.

From her studio in Margate, Kent, Loïs Gunn works in stoneware clay and precious metals, often bringing ceramics and metalwork together to create meaningful and intriguing pieces. They often feature thrown and sculpted elements, demonstrating her intuitive and deep connection with the medium. Working professionally in ceramics since 2022 after winning Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down, judged by master potters Rich Miller and Keith Brymer Jones, her work is celebrated nationally.