Our team
Jago Poynter
Jago received training as a potter and holds a degree in ceramics from Cardiff School of Art and Design. His contemporary ceramics have a strong focus on both sculptural and domestic items, with simplicity being a key element. Jago dedicates his attention to the shape, color, and existential qualities of each object, ensuring that they become distinct protagonists in any given setting. He functions as a designer, maker and creator, working across studios in London and Jingdezhen, China, where he has been honing his craft within the industry by creating a series of sculptural pieces using porcelain. His work is driven by form, texture, and more recently, colour.
Jessica Mok
As an artist and designer specializing in ceramics, I have a profound interest in glaze and its chemical properties. My innovative approach utilizes glaze as the primary material rather than clay, employing glaze-casting techniques to challenge traditional perceptions of glaze's role in ceramics. My playful creations push the boundaries of ceramic art, aiming to create a sense of material confusion and a unique viewing experience for the audience. My practice is process-led and research-based, with a strong emphasis on learning through making.
Zoe Lloyd
Zoe Lloyd holds a Masters in Ceramics from the Royal College of Art and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from the Institute of Education. Her practice reflects in-betweenness, where un-controllable things happen. She makes intuitively and spontaneously with clay. This allows her to capture and express feelings of conflict and vulnerability, such as wading through the harsh reality of being both solitary and attempting to be courageous in the studio
Vesna Braith
Vesna is a London based artist and potter making handmade ceramics for everyday rituals.
By education she is an arts professor and graphic designer having studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Slovenia.
With almost a decade of experience in production ceramics for well established ceramicists Vesna is shaping her own vision of tactile clay poetry to help elevate the seemingly mundane into heartfelt daily pleasures.
Her work moves between playfully elegant wheel thrown pieces and geometric hand built functional objects flavoured with a rustic touch.
Abi Lawrence
Abi Lawrence started working with ceramics as a teen and it has been a lifelong passion since then. Having studied Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art from 2013 to 2016, her passion for ceramics has grown from strength to strength.
Her current focus is hand-thrown and simply decorated pieces using the Japanese Neriage technique. This method of making is defined by marbling different clays together on the wheel. The pieces are then decorated very simply to showcase the simple beauty of the clay. Abi particularly loves the unpredictable nature of this technique, every piece is unique and the results vary widely from piece to piece, meaning every item is a one-of-a-kind work of art.
Mercedes Jaskolka
In her classes, Mercedes encourages students to embrace play and find joy in working with clay. She also aims to cultivate mindfulness through the act of creating, inviting her students to experience pottery as a meditative practice. By sharing her own journey, she demonstrates that anyone can learn and master a new skill at any stage of life.
Her ongoing projects and research explore the mindful and ancestral connections between yoga and pottery. Mercedes is passionate about decolonising ceramics and breaking down barriers to access in both the arts and wellness spaces, so that people from all backgrounds can experience the joy of working with clay.
Sara Zarghami
Sara Zarghami is an ambitious young woman
from Iran.
As a self-trained potter and psychology major, she discovered the therapeutic benefits of the throwing wheel. Sara believes that pottery helps individuals channel negative feelings into creating beautiful pieces, promoting mindfulness and stress relief. Inspired by Iran’s ancient history, she crafts unique functional art pieces.
Catrin Howell
Catrin holds a Masters in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal College of Art and a BA (Hons) in Three Dimensional Design: Ceramics from the University of Wolverhampton. Some of her solo shows include The Scottish Gallery Edinburgh (Scotland), Galerie Terra Delft (Netherlands), Ruthin Craft Centre (Wales), among others. Catrin has been awarded the Creative Wales Award, the National Eisteddfod of Wales, the Crafts Council Setting Up Grant, and the Fletcher Challenge Ceramic Award.
Clara L
Henry Shepherd
Henry studied pottery at school where he were fortunate to have an inspiring teacher and a
wonderful studio.
I copied other people’s work quite shamelessly to the best of my ability which was not much. I did A level art and some studio technician work. For thirty five years I practiced as an architect on commercial, residential and bespoke projects. I have improved as a result of twenty years of evening classes at Nicola Tassie’s studio in Hoxton, making bigger vessels or complex forms by joining thrown elements. I joined Studio Pottery London for two years and am currently a member at Turning Earth in Highgate. I was drawn into making kiln fodder for the firings of the reconstructed Roman kiln in Highgate Woods I attended a two day throwing masterclass with Eric Landon (aka Tortus) held at SPL and started to teach at Columbia Road Clay in Hackney before joining Ceramics Classes London. I am learning something new all the time and being challenged. At CCL I am pleased to offer something back to the warm and generous world of potters.
Instagram: @henrys_pots
hs@henryshepherd.co.uk
07949 166212