Annabel – Ceramics

Annabel has been messing around with clay for almost as long as she remember, starting, like me(!), with pinched and coiled shapes at school. She loves how immediate and responsive it is as a material. After a degree at Camberwell College of Art Annabel made tiles for a few years before starting a family at which point, for a while, her ceramic practice rested.

Annabel’s colour palette centres around whites, greys and earth tones, and she builds up the surface of each piece using layers of slip, engobe and glaze, looking for a feeling of quiet depth in the finished work.

Her studio is situated in a converted farm building and looks out over fields and woodland.  Everywhere around her is a wealth of texture and weathered surfaces, all of which inspires her work.  

I am such a believer in true beauty also coming from considered function so Annabel’s ethos really resonates with me. Her bowls and platters are safe for food, the vessels are watertight.

Annabel’s Ethos

She came back to making after the children were older, re-discovering with great joy the tactile nature of clay and how, when making, the form grows through the conversation between hands, heart and material.  Most of Annabel’s work now is made using the traditional technique of coiling, a slow method ideally suited to the way she likes to work. Slow making is at the heart of what we’re about at KVIST Boutique and Annabel’s philosophy fits in perfectly.

Annabel aims to make pieces which are not identical. Platters and bowls are pushed and stretched until they reach a natural balanced resting point, with the rims coming to an organic finish.  Vessels are encouraged to be full in shape, emphasising a feeling of containment and the idea of holding internal space.

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