I create handmade paper lamps, lampshades, and homeware that feature one of my own hand drawn illustrations. My inspiration comes from the natural world, patterns and graphics. Each lamp, lampshade and candle cover is finished with a solid wooden ring that completes the natural and simple look of the product. I grew up loving painting, art […]

Alice Heaton – Glass artist of AAH Design. I am a Cheshire based designer working primarily with hot glass. Taking inspiration from nature, I produce richly colourful and dynamic individual blown sculptural pieces. I gained a First Class Hons in Design Crafts in 2016 at De Montfort University. Inspiration is taken from organic forms in […]

I work with fabrics, predominately silks, to create wall art and accessories. My work is influenced by details found within the natural world. Lichen and flowers are my main source of inspiration, with their subtle but intricate details reflecting empathetically the textures I create within my work.

I combine the use of traditional shibori techniques and incorporate a modern twist to create unique items. Shibori is the Japanese technique of binding fabric to create a resist when dyeing or to add a three dimensional texture to fabric. The modern influence is also seen in the process I use for adding colour. I use digitally printed fabric using designs created from my own photographs of plants and flowers

I am a surface pattern designer, specialising in the creation of unique print designs, which I apply to home textiles/accessories. I have a First Class Honours degree in Textiles and completed a Masters in Design in 2012. Following this, I developed my own brand and launched my first collection.

I create designs using a combination of hand drawn imagery and CAD. They are then digitally printed onto 100% heavy weight cotton in the UK. This printed fabric is sold by the metre or used to create hand-made home accessories, including cushions and limited edition, re-upholstered chairs. Buildings, maps and destinations inspire me. I love the aesthetic appearance of architecture. My enthusiasm about mid century design, geometrics and vintage products also influences my design process.

I work in naked raku. The pots, thrown from a porcelain/T material mix are burnished and then coated with a resist slip before being glazed. Once they are fired and put into a sawdust reduction the glaze starts to craze and then the pots are cooled quickly so that the glaze falls off like eggshell, leaving a silky white surface with smokey grey crackle marks and spots. I love the random effects.

Textiles, colour and pattern are my passions. I design and make a range of cushions and home accessories inspired by a childhood spent rock pooling, collecting shells on the sandy beaches of West Wales, walking through enchanted woods of bluebells and growing flowers and veg in the garden alongside my parents. As such, nature in its infinite variety features heavily in my work.

Over the years I’ve amassed a fine collection of buttons, ribbons and vintage fabrics that have found a home in my craftwork alongside liberty prints and more recent fabric finds. I use various techniques including appliqué, machine and hand embroidery to conjure up magic and character in my colourful creations.

Kate Bufton’s work is an ongoing exploratory development, manipulating the shape and form of old books. The physicality of old books is an important inspiration for her work. The stained pages hold many unknown possibilities. The rough textures and musty smells help with progression throughout her practice as she continues to explore their physical structures. By altering the original form of books through various cuts and folds they are transformed from a carrier of text to an object of art.

I graduated in 2006 from Brighton University with a First Class in Wood, Metal, Ceramics, & Plastics. Since then I have developed my work producing collection’s and limited edition ranges of wearable but unique handmade pieces.

I use many materials but predominately work in nylon monofilament, each piece is individually constructed and dyed, making every piece unique. I find inspiration from everyday observations that other people often pass by, moss on the garden wall, UHT milk pots, and fungi growing on cheese. I am obsessed with multiples, and I am very much inspired by colour, flora and fauna, science and its order and structures. I always look for new materials, and different ways to manipulate them.  My work is tactile and I encourage the wearer to change and manipulate the pieces, once handed over is out of my control. I like that the work keeps evolving without me.

Catherine Ball hand crafts her ceramics using fine white porcelain. The Stitched ceramics collection challenges conventional ceramics through the development of an innovative technique and uses both stitching and buttons as a form of decoration. Catherine Ball is a young British designer/maker based in the lake district of Cumbria. Catherine Graduated from Cumbria Institute of […]

I create sterling silver earrings, necklaces and bracelets using my own handcrafted lampwork glass beads in my home studio in Cheshire, England. Formed in a hot flame using a propane and oxygen powered torch, each lampwork bead is individually handmade and unique.

My lampwork glass forms the focal part of my jewellery designs, each one a tiny little work of art. There is something hypnotic about working with hot glass, manipulating it in the flame and using a combination of heat and gravity to control the flow and create something beautiful. I learn something new every time I fire up my torch, and hope that my fascination with glass translates into my jewellery.

Chris Barnes makes his pottery at his studios in Cumbria and Argyll. The Stoneware comprising a range of bowls, plates, mugs, jugs, vases etc. is thrown using a kickwheel and completed with various high fired glazes. He formulates his own glazes using a variety of minerals to produce a rich colour response combined with a very durable surface. Each of the pots is unique as a result of the entire making process. First the clay is hand thrown on the wheel or slabbed to produce the forms. After the first firing the glaze is applied by hand. Finally careful control of the kiln atmosphere during the second firing brings out the character of the ware, its colours and durable finish.

Claire Troughton makes gorgeous handmade jewellery celebrating the tiny creatures and sculptural plants of the great British countryside. Collections are made in gold and silver, featuring dragonflies, butterflies, ladybirds, flowers and leaves, adorning bracelets, bangles, earrings, necklaces, pendants and rings.

Claire Troughton started making her beautiful jewellery collections in 1996 after graduating from the prestigious Edinburgh College of Art in 1995 with a BA(hons) in jewellery design. Every single piece is designed and handmade in Claire’s workshop in Chester, England. We really hope you will love wearing our jewellery as much as we love making it. Commissions accepted.

Handwriting forms the starting point in my work. Postcards featuring handwritten messages from unknown characters are sourced to begin my process; I also search for old stamps and linen maps that have become separated from their original families ties and could otherwise be discarded as worthless.

Interesting sections are extracted from the found ephemera and combined with new handmade metalwork inspired by markings in our urban environment. The fragmented handwriting appears as pattern with intriguing hints of the original messages. By combining and layering contrasting handwriting, with stamps and maps and new metalwork, I create new contemporary stories to translate by the wearer. Silver is oxidised to highlight the ephemera and gold tube rivets are used to construct parts of the work. Old wooden rulers are also scattered amongst the pieces.

Catherine Mahé designs and makes contemporary kiln formed glass products for the home from her studio in Altrincham, Cheshire.

Her pieces are distinctively colourful and heavily inspired by print and fabric pattern. She enjoys experimenting with different shades of colour and combining opaque and transparent glass for exciting light effects. Her love of glass fusing began when she was originally working with mixed media mosaic, and she’s been exploring kiln formed glass techniques through books, tutorials and workshops for the past 5 years. Prices range from £10 for small hangings to £140 for larger bowls.

My background is fine art, I then spent 15 years as a community artist facilitating creativity in others, a few years ago I found screenprinting to be the best way of reproducing my ideas, I like to use collaged vintage paper under prints and use fabrics to make useful and beautiful items. My themes seem to always be about nature but whatever the subject I love to celebrate the scratchy hand drawn line.

I make unique copper sculptures for the home and garden, including wall hangings, fountains, water features, flowers, birds and insects. Most of my work incorporates some facet of nature, as there is an abundance of inspiration to be derived from it.

Many of my pieces are one of a kind, and I like to experiment with different techniques and ideas, so I’m always learning. I also like to flame colour my pieces, so even if making the same item, no two ever look exactly the same. I’m more than happy to work with customers to provide exactly what they require. Ultimately if the customer is happy, then I’m happy.

Individually hand cut leather items lovingly sewn by Suzanne from her home studio and studio 9 at Manchester’s Craft and Design Centre. After completing a degree in Embroidery in Manchester, Suzanne continued to explore her love of traditional embroidery techniques such as straight stitching, French knots, appliqué and buttonhole designs which she uses to enhance the simple shapes she creates for her leather bags and accessories. Although each product is designed to be reproduced each product is individual and no two are exactly the same.

Suzanne is influenced by simple shapes and colour combinations which can be found from objects all around us. She strives to make functional, loveable items from leather and other natural materials, examples of her work can be found on her website which is constantly updated with new work. To commission something from Suzanne please contact her through her website.

I am a mixed media artist based in a small village in the heart of Cheshire; I work from my studio which is filled to the rafters with ephemera, vintage fabrics, typewriters, sewing machines, threads, hand painted papers and books, I am sure you can picture the scene!
During My Masters Degree in Fashion and Textiles I discovered ‘wabi Sabi’ and the ethos of ‘beauty in imperfection’; this really captures my inspirations and the work which I produce, I am influenced by tactile aged surfaces like peeling paint on walls and fabrics which are threadbare but laden with memories and stories to tell.
I use a combination of layered surfaces, collage, drawing, machine and hand stitch to create original pieces and I like to incorporate vintage and discarded items into my work to convey messages off nostalgia.

I’ve been making sculptural ceramic vessels and handmade tiles for over fifteen years and work in my studio at home overlooking the garden in the beautiful Peak District National Park. When making I design with clay, allowing the material to partly dictate the direction the piece takes rather than staring blankly at an empty page […]

I make contemporary ceramics, aiming to capture emotions, from a pretty, delicate piece through to some more deep, sinister work.

The use of colour and texture with strong design is paramount, my work focuses on a love of plants, nature and life in general.