About
Sophie was born in 1986 in Berkshire. After her A-levels she completed an Art Foundation Diploma at The Surrey Institute of Art and Design. In 2005 she moved to Devon and studied at The University of Plymouth where she obtained a 1st Class Honours Degree in 3D Design. This course involved working with a variety of materials and experimenting with different techniques. This is where Sophie discovered her love of ceramics.
Sophie has always been interested in traditional values and forms and has enjoyed living in and near the countryside and so is very much influenced by nature. It is these two aspects that are particularly expressed in much of her work.
In the latter part of 2009 Sophie moved into her own workshop at Riverside Studios on Lower Way Farm, Thatcham, where she continues to create her unique pieces.
About Sophie’s work
As mentioned above, Sophie is constantly inspired by tradition and iconic forms, but is also captivated with the way clay behaves as a raw material; it is rough, malleable, impressionable and natural. Her aim is to produce ceramic pieces that portray a collaboration between traditional/iconic forms and the natural properties of unfired clay. The concept of recognition of form interests her and the shapes she favours to work with are chosen to reflect the history and traditionalism of ceramic.
Sophie’s pieces are all original and individual, involving forms that play with recognisable shapes, but are purely decorative. They tend to reject the concept of industrialisation and contrast with our instincts to ‘functionalise’.
Sophie generally works with smooth earthstone clay and often finishes with terra sigilata (an old, forgotten technique) or a white crackle glaze. Many pieces are smoke fired in sawdust. These finishes give the pieces an earthy, rustic feel, which in turn relates to the origins of clay itself.