The Makers: Ceramicist, Gabby Smith
Gabby Smith designs and makes hand-formed ceramics in her tiny home-studio in Ashdon, Essex. We recently had the chance to work with her on a series of commissions, including her most ambitious project to date.
When did your love affair with clay start?
So, I’m relatively new to all this - I’ve only been making ceramics for around five years. I did that thing of officially stepping back from my career when I had my children but I didn’t really stop at all and before long I found myself back in a full-time, full-on job with two small children and a hideous commute. I tried to cut my hours but that just meant doing the same job in half the time and eventually I decided to make a break.
By that time I’d been hanging out with my mum and we’d started shopatseed - she was super-creative and talented and we had worked together on a tiny range of homeware pieces. She kept encouraging me to try ceramics and I was really resistant to it as I thought my lack of formal artistic training meant it wasn’t for me. Around this time my mum became ill with ovarian cancer and died which was absolutely devastating for us all.
It was a pivotal moment as I didn’t really know what to do with shopatseed which was still nothing much more than a small germ of an idea. One of the designs we’d been working on was some hanging planters with very simple macrame tops and ceramic pots. I’d taught myself macrame but I was a bit stuck as to where to go from there. Quite by chance I was introduced to the wonderful ceramic artist Amanda Banham by a mutual friend. We hit it off immediately and she kindly said she’d teach me how to make pots. So I turned up at Amandas studio one morning and had a bit of an epiphany. She was utterly brilliant - she showed me how to hand build a pot and as soon as I got my hands on a lump of clay I realised that ceramics was actually a thing for me.
It all felt remarkably straightforward from there really. I didn’t really consider that I would do anything else. I had this absolute drive to make very specific tableware that was durable, practical, robust - that looked lovely but was completely functional. Amanda was completely amazing - she taught me, helped me, she let me work in her studio she fired my work until I got my own kiln. She is a wonderful friend and mentor. And her kindness and generosity of spirit are things I try to keep that in my mind and I always try to offer space, support and encouragement to anyone who wants to come and use my studio resources to further their ceramics work.
A selection from Gabby’s tableware collection.
How do you build sustainability into your work?
It’s something that bothered me quite a lot when I first started - I really didn’t like the idea of bringing more ‘stuff’ into the world. I know that I’m making something that is durable and will stand the test of time, and that my pieces are made using traditional hand building methods - many of which have been used since we first started cooking our food - but it still concerns me that I’m adding to the ever increasing pile of things for people to buy. So, I have a couple of studio rules - the first is that if I’m not 100% happy with something, then it doesn’t get fired. Everything that hasn’t been fired can be recycled, reclaimed and reused. But once it’s undergone that chemical change in its first firing - that’s it! It’s in the world forever.
So I’m incredibly strict with myself and I try to do all of my innovating, experimenting and refining before I get to the firing stage and only really commit to firing pieces when I’m truly happy. My next rule is that I always recycle my clay. It’s a long process and hard work - but deeply satisfying to see all those trimmings, mistakes and off cuts turned back into clay ready to be made into new work.
Gabby’s hand-carved clay pendant lights - Soulspace, Guildford
We had the joy of working with you to create some beautiful pieces for the Boathouse, starting with a collection of carved pendant shades. Can you tell us a little about the process of creating them?
What a wonderful project - I loved making the lights so much. They encapsulated some of my favourite things - beautiful natural clay which has character; ancient surface decoration techniques; and gorgeous satin white glaze that allows the personality of the material underneath to still be visible.
From our first meeting it felt like a ‘meeting of minds’ design-wise and I had such a clear and strong vision of what I needed to achieve.
The actual build of the shades was really challenging. The shades needed to be large and shallow, which made them really unstable when the clay was wet. It was difficult to get them strong enough to support themselves without making the clay super-thick which would obviously make them prohibitively heavy. My solution was to build myself a set of custom molds or templates. These allowed me to achieve exactly the right dimensions and profile for each shade, and supported the large forms while they were drying and while I carved the design on the outside.
Clay shades drying in Gabby’s studio.
It was really interesting for us to learn more about the way glazes affect the finished pieces. Do you have a favourite glazing technique?
I feel like the whole area of glazes and glazing is something I’ve barely scratched the surface of in my practice to date!
I hadn’t been making ceramics for that long when I decided I should have a go at making my own glaze. I found some of the commercial glazes I was using slightly flat and I wanted to experiment with more organic and multi-dimensional colours. And I discovered a whole new mysterious world!!
Chemistry is really not one of my core strengths so I really am a bit of a dabbler but I absolutely love to create glazes that allow the character of the clay to shine through and I now have a small palette of glazes that I feel really complement my work and the specific clay bodies I like to work with.
I like to apply glaze in a way that implies movement and a sense of spontaneity. Most often I will dip my pieces into a bucket of glaze or pour glaze over a piece multiple times to create irregular layers and add further dimension. There are always drips and splashes, and often finger marks too, which are an integral part of the piece.
We also worked with you to create shades for our feature light in one of the Gathering Rooms. We all got pretty nerdy about clay types here didn’t we? Can you tell us a bit about the clay we ended up using and what the challenges and advantages were?
This part of the project was so exciting and such a different kind of challenge - I loved the idea of making the shades for the bespoke light fitting that was being made for this beautiful room.
The task of getting the colour and finish just right was a significant one for me - I really wanted something that would match the raw, elemental feel of the iron light fitting and none of the glazes I was seeing really matched up.
In the end I proposed that we choose a stunning and very unusual clay body and to let the raw material speak for itself with a minimal coat of transparent satin glaze to protect against dust. I was so excited to bring this idea to the team as the clay I had found was the most beautiful espresso-coloured sculpture clay which is very rough and textured with large pieces of grit and stone.
The clay was wonderful to work with and was so easy to form into the gently domed shades. However the real challenge with these pieces came with the firing as time after time they cracked and crumbled in the kiln. There was lots of research and lots of consultation - I learned loads about firing schedules and tapped into some amazing experts.
In the end a series of surprisingly minor tweaks to the kiln programme made all the difference and the beautiful but difficult clay came good. And I’m so glad we persevered - the light fitting is stunning and I feel like the colour and texture of the clay were absolutely made for the room!
Did you enjoy the challenge of working with a new clay?
Haha! Actually - despite my previous answer, I really did. It was extremely challenging but, as is often the way, I learned a huge amount and the feeling of achievement and the end result made it more than worth the pain!
The bar at The Boathouse Café is finished with over a thousand handmade tiles.
We completely fell in love with your work, and your appreciation for natural imperfections and character, so we ended up asking you to help us with a core part of the café design. Can you share a little bit about that commission?
Ahh - the beautiful bar!
When the team approached me to make some tiles to cover the bar I was initially delighted. I love making tiles - they have their challenges but the result is always well worth it. However when I realised that these were thin irregularly sized mosaic strips and that each one would need to be cut by hand, and that there would need to be nearly 7 metres square - I wondered if I’d bitten off more than I could chew.
These tiles really did test me to my limits - it was a vast number - thousands and thousands. All hand cut, and sanded. All individually dipped in glaze, then wiped on each edge to prevent drips and then fired. I soon ran out of room in my studio and completely took over the kitchen table - the whole family got involved and took it in turns to motivate me - cheering me on during my marathon tile-making stints. But once again I had absolute faith in the idea and a strong vision of how the finished piece needed to look.
And the end result made the hard work absolutely worth it. It’s an absolute triumph of the whole being so much greater than the sum of the parts - it’s just simple white strips - but the fact that each once is individually made and therefore subtly different just makes the whole thing very special.
It’s my favourite part of the project and I still get goosebumps when I look at it. I feel very proud that I made it with my hands.
Would you ever make tiles again?
Oh, in a heartbeat! In fact I’m right in the middle of making some now. Someone who saw my work at the Boathouse has commissioned some for their kitchen - it’s an absolutely stunning renovation and build project and I can’t wait to see the tiles in situ. The kitchen table has been commandeered once again!
Did you learn anything interesting about your craft during this process?
I learned so much about my craft and also myself while working on this project. A great example is that the large lights have made me much bolder about building huge pieces. I’m really looking forward to pushing my work further in terms of size and have started to experiment with some super-sized vessels.
I also learned about volume and production efficiency - how to up my capacity and refine my working practices. And I extended my network of supportive potter friends and contacts too. I had to reach out and find extra kiln capacity as the volume of tiles was just too huge for my kiln. As a result I’m now in a position where I’m confident in taking on much larger jobs as I know I have the ability to significantly increase capacity whenever I need to.
Lastly I really learned about my own resourcefulness and ability to problem-solve and of course what a patient family I have.
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