Born in the UK, but studied at the National Art School in Sydney, Australia, Matthew Blakely has been making pots professionally for over 30 years. He currently lives in Cambridgeshire.

Matthew Chambers began his career as an assistant potter to Philip Wood in Somerset, UK. He went on to gain a 1st class degree in Ceramics from Bath School of Art, and a Masters from the Royal College of Art, London. Now based on the Isle of Wight, his work has been exhibited widely and is held in public and private collections worldwide. He specialises in ceramic sculptures constructed of multiple sections built on the potter’s wheel. Finished with integral colour, unglazed but polished, each piece expresses an abstract beauty through its formal qualities of depth, pattern and repetition.

Michael Eden’s work sits at the intersection of art, design and craft, utilising and exploring the new Industrial revolution of 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing. An MPhil research project at the Royal College of Art allowed him to explore how his interest in digital technology could be developed and combined with the craft skills he acquired during his previous experience as a designer and maker of ceramics. Since then, he has continued to create a body of work inspired by historical objects and contemporary themes. He is currently exploring the 3D printing of ceramic materials.

Nic Collins has been using clay for almost 30 years and was self-taught at throwing. A year studying ceramics at Derby College of Art (1985-86) was followed by time working in potteries in Italy and Germany. In January 1988, he started his own workshop at Powdermills in the heart of Dartmoor. Collins builds several kilns a year to suit changing pot styles and firing ideas – the alchemy of wood firing still fascinates him. He now lives and works with his partner in a converted barn in Moretonhampstead, Devon, where he runs Anagama kiln building and firing courses.

Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, said: ‘It is written, the water that flows into the earthenware vessel takes on its form.’ As a young artist working with clay, this concept haunted Nicholas Arroyave. His experiments led to a fascination with saturation and volume with its opposite qualities of dehydration and dryness. He has also taken inspiration from the Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto, who studied how the molecular structure of water can be transformed. Water is a constant reference in Arroyave’s work and he uses the metaphor of water as a means of representing time.

For over 25 years, Paul Young has been drawn to the traditions of English earthenware, slipware and European folk art. He feels a strong bond with the charm and honesty of Staffordshire wares of the 18th century that appear both naive and sophisticated in their execution. Young trained at Sheffield and Chesterfield College of Art and is currently working from a Victorian railway station. His ceramics are in public and private collections and his hope is to convey a joy, narrative and intrigue for the viewer.

While studying industrial design and furniture design at Ravensbourne College of Art in London (1970-73), Peter Beard was able to spend time in the ceramics department. Later, he helped set up a pottery in Scotland making thrown domestic stoneware. He opened his first studio in 1975, and currently lives and works in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. His pieces are thrown and hand-built in oxidised stoneware using matt and semi-matt glazes and coloured clays, built up in layers to create textural surfaces. Beard also works in bronze and stone. He has exhibited regularly in group exhibitions and one-man shows in Britain and abroad.

Peter Hayes has a lifetime interest in the history of ceramics. He spent several years travelling through Africa working with potters and discovering beautiful surfaces made with limited technology and basic tools, and this has inspired his own work. He works on large-scale ceramic forms which he places in the landscape, then introduces iron or copper into the Raku surface. Over time and erosion, the individual piece takes on its own developing surface. A recent commission took him to Udaipur in Rajasthan, India, introducing him to other artists and enabling Hayes to work with materials such as glass, marble, stone and Damascus steel.

Rachel Foxwell is a ceramic artist living and working in Frome, Somerset. In 2021 she joined the Craft Potters Association, and in 2023 was invited to Homo Faber Guide’s online platform as a ‘Master Artisan’. Colour plays an intrinsic part of her practice and she develops her own palette of hues and tones to create a combination of rhythm and contrast. Complex layers of ceramic slips are applied to thin clay slabs, the slabs are later assembled to create clean, simple cylinders. The pieces play a contrast between the rough organic feel of textured ceramic slip and the polished surface of earthenware clay.

Rebecca Appleby is an artist who has carved out her own niche over the years and produces strong and thought-provoking ceramic sculpture. Her abstract pieces are sculptures informed by art, architecture and industrial archaeology. Her work over the past two decades has centred on an exploration of structure, order and the antithesis: chaos and expression.

Regina Heinz studied Fine Art and Ceramics in Vienna, Geneva and London. Internationally known for her ceramic sculptures and reliefs, her work is held in major collections worldwide. In 2013 she designed the cabin art work on P&O’s luxury cruise ship Britannia, consisting of 6,000 sculptural wall pieces. Heinz has worked with leading architects and art consultants to create site-specific installations for private and public spaces. A recent commission was an 8-metre installation for the foyer of the cultural centre Rhein Sieg Forum in Siegburg, Germany.

Rich Miller studied ceramics at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design. He currently runs Froyle Tiles, specialising in the bespoke production of high-fired stoneware tiles. Miller has a passion for clay and continues his own studio practice, exhibiting his ceramics at selected shows. His work references historical designs, drawing on themes of British colonialism and the way in which immigration to the UK has brought with it a rich source of influence. Images associated with the colonies that have become adopted by the British mainstream are the core influence on his practice. Miller is a judge on Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Roger Law was the creator behind the mocking caricature puppets of the award-winning TV series Spitting Image, which ran for 12 years. When the satire bubble burst, he moved to Australia. A growing interest in ceramics took him to Jingdezhen, China’s Porcelain City. Law split his time between Australia and China and the ceramics he has made are as witty and beautiful as his caricatures were rude and ugly. Now back in the UK, Brexit and Trump have forced him to revert to type, and he is planning a new satirical puppet show aimed at American ‘pay per view’ TV.

Ryan Barrett studied at Goldsmith University in London, where he was especially drawn to textile design. He first began experimenting with ceramic in 2013, and he is especially influenced by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. With his textile background, Barrett is naturally drawn to surfaces and textures. He constantly experiments with natural glazes and minerals to create tonal mixes and cascading effects. An ever-evolving process, much of his work is developed in series and explores variations of forms with organic surface textures.