PROCESS
Nicola has always enjoyed the three-dimensional nature of clay. Whether traditional or sculptural in form, all resonate with Nicola's love of nature and shapes found in the natural world.
Photo by William Law
THROWING
Nicola loves the unplanned nature of throwing clay. From the moment she chooses the clay body, weighs it out then throws it onto the wheel head she still doesn’t really know how the clay will speak to her. The clay ‘lives’ on the wheel so no two pots are ever truly the same. The unique relationship she forms with each pot is the real appeal of throwing for Nicola.
'The hands make a gesture in space and the clay records the gesture’
Peter Dormer (1985)
HAND BUILDING
From pinch pots to press mould serving platters, Nicola really enjoys the process of watching the pot unfold in front of her eyes. She likes to perfect the likeness of objects from nature but at the same time she identifies with Japanese philosophy by embracing imperfection.
GLAZING
Working with glazes that are often bespoke and hand-mixed by Nicola in the studio, the connection with the natural world intensifies when a piece is glazed. There is an alchemy that takes place in the kiln when the unique combinations of glazes develop together, the resulting colours and patterns evoking seascapes and landscapes, or "an aerial view of the earth where land meets sea with shapes and colours that have been formed over the millennia". Channelling these inspirations into striking, contemporary glazes is key to Nicola's process.
