This month we have created a gift guide with a selection of affordable and covetable items, with ideas ranging from ceramic pieces by Lara Scobie, Clive Bowen, Jill Fanshawe Kato and Yuta Segawa, to glass sculpture by Katharine Coleman and glassware by Lindean Mill Glass. Also included are carved sculpture in alabaster by Oliver Cook and stone carvings by Gus Fisher. Browse our guide below for an intriguing selection of artworks…
Yuta Segawa
Originally from Japan, Yuta Segawa lives and works in London specialising in producing miniature pottery. He honed his ceramic skills in Japan, China, and London; completing a BA at Musashion Art University, Toyko and his MA at Camberwell College of Arts, London. All of Segawa’s miniature pots are thrown individually by hand and he has more than five hundred original glazes which he applies to each miniature. Working in miniature poses a real challenge – testing the limits of what a human body can make on such a small scale. Segawa’s work has been exhibited both in the UK and internationally. Prices start from £28.
Lara Scobie
Lara studied ceramics at Camberwell College of Arts in London and has a Post Graduate from Edinburgh College of Art. Her current work is predominantly concerned with the dynamic interplay between form and pattern. This is explored through the cohesive integration of drawing, surface mark making and volume. She is equally interested in the space that surrounds pattern as much as the hue and texture of the decorated surface. Surface pattern and colour observed in botanical life enable Lara to explore her love of colour and abstract pattern making.
Oliver Cook
Oliver Cook creates sculptural forms and functional objects in alabaster. Using everyday objects such as vases and bowls as a starting point, his work explores the relationship between light and the translucent properties of the stone. When creating a piece he often has a specific time of day in mind. It could be when the sun falls in a certain corner of the house or a place that always gets first light in the morning. Cook’s technique and process is self-taught and has developed organically, drawing upon traditional carving techniques and skills learned in ceramics. All pieces are made by hand in his Manchester studio.
Katharine Coleman
Katharine Coleman studied engraving techniques with Peter Dreiser 1984-6 and was shortlisted for the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2003, awarded an Honorary Mention Prize at the Coburg Glass Prize 2006 and the Glass Sellers inaugural prize for Engraving on Glass 2007. In 2009 Katharine was awarded an MBE for services to glass engraving. She engraves on clear lead crystal forms, overlaid with coloured glass, blown to her design. Once blown and annealed, the top surface of the glass is cut and polished to allow one to see inside the piece, which is then engraved. The inspiration for her work ranges from natural history to the modern urban landscape.
Lindean Mill Glass
Lindean Mill Glass is the partnership of Annica Sandström (Sweden) and David Kaplan (USA). Established since 1978 in the Scottish Borders, they are pioneers of the studio glass movement in Scotland. This thriving glass studio has an international reputation and is renowned for both beautifully-designed contemporary tableware and an ever-changing collection of individual vessels, plates and panels. Brighten up your table with the optic collection boasting a range of champagne, wine and water glasses alongside a selection of tumblers and creamers in jewel-like colours – prices start from £43.
Clive Bowen
Clive Bowen studied painting and etching at Cardiff Art School before taking up an apprenticeship with Michael Leach at Yelland Pottery in North Devon from 1965 until 1969. In 1971 he bought a small agricultural property at Shebbear, near Holsworthy in North Devon and set up a workshop in the former farm outhouses. Clive’s work is held in numerous public collections both nationally and internationally. His pots are made in the local Fremington clay, a red earthenware clay in use for centuries for traditional North Devon wares. They are almost all wheel thrown with the exception of a few hand-pressed dishes. With prices starting from £32 they make the perfect gift this Christmas. Clive Bowen is the subject of a solo exhibition in December 2022 – Shebbear Pottery. View the exhibition here.
Gus Fisher
Gus Fisher is an artist and craftsman working with letter design and stone carving. He is the youngest member of the Scottish Lettercutter’s Association, a prestigious organisation that seeks to promote the traditional art of letter-carving. Gus has developed an appreciation and love of lettering as an art form in its own right. He has a strong interest in the fragments of letters bequeathed to us from earlier civilisations, as seen in ancient ruined cities.
Jill Fanshawe Kato
Jill Fanshawe Kato studied painting at Chelsea School of Art and pottery at the school of Yosei Itaka and at the Musoan Karatsu Pottery School in Japan. She established her studio in North London in 1977 and has exhibited internationally, especially in Japan and the UK. She regards her work as sitting somewhere ‘between sculpture and painting’. We have just received a new collection featuring creatures and plants inspired by the Devon countryside on Jill’s doorstep and her numerous visits to Japan.
