Welcome to the Studio

Hello and welcome.

I’m Laura, a part Cumbrian, Part Scottish Potter living in the borderlands making pots from my studio in Northumberland.

I’ll start with a bit about me, I’m 30(something) and have been potting with gusto (not including while studying art) for approximately 12 years. I studied fine art at University and focused on sculpture (I’m not a painter, no matter how much I wish I was one, it doesn’t come naturally and well frankly I dont have the patience required ha.) I love sculpture however, something about making things in 3D, forming them, shaping them, and watching them grow in front of me. I can’t get enough of it!

After uni, like many of us who did a non-vocational degree, I had to leave the art behind in a bid to earn some money. I took on a job that I thought would be fulfilling and creative in a different way, but found that over time it began to suffocate me. The endless energy needed to keep going under increasingly bleak and pressurised conditions caused me to break, and part of my recovery was finding my way back to clay, creating with my hand and peace. Part of that also involved finding a way to slow down, slow the relentless passing of time in a very fast-paced society that seems to constantly need new, more, different. Like a machine that will never stop needing fuel or a monster, you can never fill.

Once I came back to clay and making the need to create and make grew and grew, as did my ability and eventually that led me to here, sitting in my little room at the back of my studio, filled with warm lights and a comfy chair writing this thinking about what Pots I need to throw later and if Penny (the puppa I got instead of a honeymoon - best money we’ve ever spent!) is capable of making me a brew if I promise belly rubs when we get home tonight.

What I make. It’s been a lot over the years, and it took me a long time to really find what itches the right spot creatively.

I love folklore, Celtic mythology and history, I love the idea of being part of something older, deeper, and more connected to the earth and nature and that is what influences the pots I make. I like to think it influences all parts of my life and the person I am really.

I mean I still have flirtations with other styles and ways of making, usually in the summer months for some reason, like a cat distracted by a laser light every now and then I have a mad flurry of making traditional Japanese pottery instead of my usual makes, and I love it while I’m doing it, but then it passes and I fall back on comfortable ground and make some mugs with teeth on them or a house or crumbling archway.

When I’m not potting I’m usually with my children, husband, the cat and dog and we’re making a mess in the kitchen or gaming in our bedroom.

I have a very supportive husband who runs our Shop in Northumberland and two lovely slightly stinky children (4 and 7) as well as the puppa and Twig the kitten, she is a lunatic whose floof is so extensive she looks like she’s wearing old-fashioned bloomers on her back legs. She is very VERY sassy and even though she has been with us a year now, puppa is still not convinced. We love to cook, make and craft when we are home together (I’m making this sound like we are one of those beautifully curated Instagram families that somehow seem to still have clean children, and white walls but do fingerprinting and baking every night after school before homework, healthy snacks, a wholefood home cooked dinner then stories before bed ha, that we are not!) the kids bloody love chicken nuggets, the dog steals the cat’s food daily, I regularly forget the kid’s homework and all love a bit of screen time, more than we should, but also we are only human and sometimes you can’t beat being sat on the sofa together eating (tesco own, it’s the best, trust me we’ve done the testing for you) sweet and salty popcorn while all playing games on our own devices (the smallest grown plays with the biggest grown on the PlayStation ha) all things in moderation I suppose.

My favourite game you ask? The Witcher 3. Still, I don’t care how long ago it came out, I will re-play that game until the new one comes out. I also love board games, my Switch, watching YouTubers game (I can highly recommend Gab Smolders) and coop gaming with the husband.

What’s the blog about then? I don’t know if I’m honest. My plans are to hopefully create a monthly one that is like a What’s the crack this month, and then some additional make ones, so maybe every couple of weeks?

Initially, I was going to do it all about pottery, but then also I felt it would be nice to document some of the reasons behind some of my makes, especially seasonal ones or ones that have a good folktale behind them. So why not do both? One for the beginning of the month that will have tales about the month or season we are in, maybe some other interesting bits and pieces and then another that is more pottery focused, with information on how to make, techniques, what I’ve been up to in the studio, more of a day in the life of. Hopefully, you will enjoy taking a little time out to read them, like slow TV but not.