Hi there, I'm Flo.
This year has really flown, hasn't it?
All year I've been promising a shop update, but lo and behold the seasons have run away with me.
However, I have some cheering news:
I will be stocking the shop with my (I want to say Christmas but it feels too early so let's just call it 'winter') WINTER COLLECTION in two phases: one hopefully end of November if the kiln behaves and a second with a refresh of stock in early December. Set your watches, folks.
I started this year making dinner sets, I spent the spring making shop orders for summer, I spent the summer making shop orders for winter, and now in Autumn I'm making for my own winter shop update. It's surreal because I've felt one season behind all year in my work. I guess the long lead times inherent in working with clay don't help with that. It's been a great year in the studio and I've been really pleased with the quality and consistency of the work I've made.
But I don't think I've stopped to smell the roses that much. I've just been makin makin makin but you know what: that's freed up a lot of headspace. So I've been thinking.
I've been thinking a lot about this collection. It's a really special one for me because it's the one real opportunity I've had this year to share my work directly with people. And I wanna do you proud! People have been really generous and supportive of my work all year in shops and as individuals that I want to make a really nice collection of pots for you. I've been making since the end of summer so I really hope ya like them. And the anticipation is nearly over!
But if you'd like to join me in my anticipation (good segue) please sign up to my mailing list below. And I'll let you know in your inbox when you can nab yourself a nice piece of pottery that you'll hopefully love, or love to gift if you don't :)
Thanks so much for your support as ever,
Flo x
Hand-thrown
ceramics for the everyday
I love clay as a medium and in all its many and various forms - but when I make pots for daily use, I want to make things that I'd want in my own home. Pots in a neutral, natural colour palette, simply thrown and carefully made, that make food and spaces sing (and also are durable enough to be knocked around a little bit).
It's not that deep really - I make pottery for people who like nice things to eat off, drink from, and stare longingly at :)
Each item is thrown, fired, and glazed entirely by hand in my East Bristol studio.
Working in a variety of clays from lightly speckled, toasted, and gently basalt-flecked white stoneware, each handcrafted item is made with intention, to be used on the daily.
So, it's everyday ceramics (but it's also a bit special).
FLORENCE CERAMICS
I am a ceramic artist making primarily functional tableware from my studio in Bristol, UK. Plates, bowls, mugs, soap dishes, you name it - if it's for the home, and you eat from it, drink from it, or use it in a practical capacity in your daily life, then you'll be pleased to learn that that's the kind of pots I like to make. Useful things, that are also - hopefully - beautiful too.
Fancy something commissioned, something extra special, something engraved or something made-to-order? Please submit those exciting ideas using the form below and I'll be quick to get back to you. Alongside my standard range of ceramic tableware, I also love making one-off, completely unique pieces that are specific to you - so get in touch with your wild and wonderful ideas.
I've been making pots for about 7 years now, with varying degrees of dedication. I learnt initially in the pottery room at the University of Bristol, where I spent more time on the wheel throwing than I did reading texts for my English degree. After University I moved to Latvia and studied for my first apprenticeship under Laime Griogone, a functional potter working in porcelain and stoneware, making plates and cups in her studio in the deep Latvian winter. After my apprenticeship I moved back to Bristol and was successful in obtaining a job at The Village Pottery, owned by Jen Hamilton. My time there taught me how to production throw, and how to work on a scale suitable for large restaurants and bigger institutions - an invaluable way to learn the ins and outs of a larger studio. Alongside this, I became apprenticed to Phoebe Smith, a Bristol-based potter making beautiful small-batch tableware, where I helped her glaze her work and maintain her studio. I am now very excited to work two days a week at Bath Spa University, where I teach practical skills in their amazingly well-kitted-out studios, as a Technical Demonstrator in 3D Ceramics.
Through exposure to many different making styles, studio set-ups, and immersing myself in the world of contemporary functional pottery, I've been really lucky to now find myself in a position where shops and restaurants stock work under my own name: Florence Ceramics. I'm genuinely thrilled to find myself here now, teaching a few classes a week in the evenings, hopping over to Bath on the train, and making pottery that feels true to my own style, which is simple, naturally-toned, pretty simple, and made with intention, to be used to uplift the everyday. What a ride.
Are you enquiring on behalf of a restaurant? Send me an email and I'll whizz my wholesale price list over to you.
I've written a new blog (& it's all about dinner sets)
The blog that nobody asked for, but I feel like it might be a bit of a one-stop-shop if you're considering commissioning a set, or just nosey about the process of making lots of pots.
Alongside full or partial sets for the home, I'm more than happy to collaborate on larger projects for cafes, shops and restaurants, too - recent work can be seen at Society Cafe (Oxford, Bristol, Cheltenham, Bath), Catley's (Clifton, Bristol), Ottowin Shop (Bristol), Prior Shop (Bristol), Land Tales (London), Brace & Browns (Bristol), 264 (Bristol), East of Home (Bath), Ondine Ash (Falmouth), Rossiter's (Bath), The Painted Bird (St Ives).