Hi Rosie, a big welcome to our Friends of the Kitchen series. A place where we meet the people behind the products and services we use.

You are certainly one of our wonderful friends, providing beautiful ceramics for our tables and events.

Could you please start by telling us about yourself and what you do?

I’m a ceramicist and designer based in London. I design and make all of my pieces in my London studio.

I try to make unique pieces which are full of colour, pattern and texture, which are designed to last a lifetime and help the home tell a story. Each of my pieces are designed to be both works of art, and functional robust pieces for the home. This emphasis on beautiful functionality is really important to me. 

My pieces are hand-built in stoneware clay, creating organically shaped pieces which are then painted and glazed by hand. The speckled, earthy tones of the stoneware are designed to balance the brightly coloured glazed patterns. By shaping each piece by hand means they are all intentionally slightly different, for me this is important to emphasise my belief in creating unique, slow and sustainable.

How did you first get into this?

I’ve always loved designing and making things since I was a child and, being very dyslexic, I quickly realised that this was where my strengths lay and definitely where I feel most confident. I was always painting, sewing, and making things, but, for some reason, the idea of studying anything artistic at university seemed very scary and would never lead to a ‘proper’ job.

After five years of working as a primary school teacher, I handed in my notice to go travelling around Central America for a year but two weeks later COVID struck and we went into lock down, needless to say we didn’t make it to Mexico that year but I had the time to reassess my career options! 

There was most definitely a plus side to this difficult time as, having stopped teaching, it let me see that although I loved some parts of it, it had also made me incredibly stressed and anxious, so I decided to try doing what I loved full-time and focused on my creative side.

I’d always made ceramics as a side hobby but now I finally had the chance to really invest in what I most loved doing and try to make a career out of it. I tutored and freelanced as an assistant stylist on interior shoots to keep the lights on whilst I developed my practice and brand.

To my delight (and quite honestly amazement), for the last year and a half I have been working full-time for myself and developing my practice with such an amazing community of followers. All self-taught and learning as I go, it’s been such a liberating process and I’m so grateful and thankful for where I am now.

A defining moment in my career was most definitely working as an assistant stylist on interior shoots, working alongside some incredibly talented interior stylists and creative directors, watching them curate the most incredible spaces filled with beautiful pieces which blurred the lines between pieces of art and functional items for the home.

What’s your place of work like?

My studio is light and airy, it’s in an old Victorian stable block so it comes with a nice slice of history too. I work between here and home. Making and firing here and then designing and packaging orders at home. The change of scenery is really nice, especially when I’m making large wholesale orders! In the studio, I’m surrounded with my work at different stages of the process, shelves of glazes, bisque pieces and lots of bags of clay! I’ve worked hard to make sure I keep things nicely organised and tidy, this doesn’t come naturally so it’s something I’ve worked at and makes such a difference.

What do you like about the materials you work with?

I love the satisfaction of first taking the clay out of its bag, it smells amazing, so earthy and it’s so wet and gooey! Every time I take it out, it still amazes me that you can make things with this stuff from out of the ground! I then love when the clay has hardened to a leathery texture and you are able to mold it into the shapes you want to create.

What would you describe as your influences?

There have been so many influences to my work over the past two years, but two which really stick out were firstly working with the most incredible pieces of artwork from MAH Gallery whilst assisting interior stylists; helping to curate living spaces full of texture, shape, colour and pattern. This cemented my belief in the beauty and importance of hand crafted pieces, which can be both a work of art and a usable item that brings joy to people.

The second, Charleston House. Home of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Charleston was where the 20th century’s most radical artists, writers and thinkers, the Bloomsbury group, met. The house itself is truly the most inspiring of places, covered with beautiful yet often whimsical, carefree hand painted patterns on mantel pieces, walls, doors, and ceilings, it reminds me of the importance of fun when making art, while also being such an important place historically for our culture.

What’s your favourite part of the process – what brings you the most joy?

Opening a full kiln has to be a favourite, it’s an equal mix of excitement and nervousness as you can never be sure how things will turn out. Things crack, things bubble, things warp and that can be heartbreaking! But you also get to see all of your pieces which have taken several weeks to make, finally finished and nothing beats that, especially when you have some new designs or colourways coming out! This is so exciting!

What can be the hardest part of the process?

One of the hardest is when something doesn’t come out of the kiln as you wanted or it has cracked. I still find this really frustrating but you do have to accept it’s part of the process. Another is timings when working with clay, when slab building (as I do) the drying process is a long one. You have various stages of drying when you need to do different processes. If you wait too long and it’s too dry it can be ruined so you need to work out your timings really carefully. Sometimes when working on a large wholesale order, because I have so much to do I’ll be working until the early hours to complete a stage in the process as otherwise they will be ruined.

Does it feel like a job or a lifestyle?

It feels like a lifestyle, and I love it. Going from teaching where your time isn’t your own at all from 8.30am to 3.20am and you can’t even go to the loo when you want to, the freedom of working for myself is just amazing! Having a cup of tea when I want, playing Radio 4 when I want, it’s amazing! It is scary as sometimes when there are quieter weeks for sales but I’m slowly learning that it is normal and going to happen, just like any freelance job.

What might an average day look like for you?

Having been a teacher where your days and even holidays are so regimented down to the minute, I now absolutely love that my time is my own. Depending on my schedule, sometimes I start work very early to start rolling out slabs on slabs of clay, whereas other mornings I make myself a tea and sit in bed until 9am doing admin! Depending on when I need to fire my pieces, my days are normally either a “making” day, or an order packing and admin day (although sometimes both!). Woman’s Hour is a daily must, along with many Earl Grey teas along the way.

What’s been your favourite piece to work on/create? Why?

I think my wavy platters are still one of my favourites as they were one of my first designs and are one of my most popular pieces. But I loved turning these into a pedestal which makes a real centerpiece for a tablescape, sideboard or worktop.

Where can people find out more about you and follow you and your creations?

People can follow me and my work on instagram @_rosiegore_ and see my collections on my website www.rosiegore.com.