About

Hannah Elliott

Hannah Elliott makes tactile pots for everyday use, thrown on the potter’s wheel, in her studio in Haslemere, UK.

She has a degree in Fine Art and English and recently set up her pottery on the Sussex/Surrey border. She brings a contemporary palette of cream and blue to the slipware tradition, with gesturally applied decoration, over bold red earthenware clay. She adds woven handles to the platters and jars.

It’s the moment of making that captivates her: ‘There’s something utterly mesmerising about the process of throwing. Time stops and I’m riffing with the clay and the centrifugal force. You’re held there, in a moment of flow and fascination.‘

In the early 2000s Hannah Elliott was editor of Ceramics in Society magazine, working with Paul Vincent and Victor Margrie in Devon. During these formative years she interviewed some of the UK’s most prominent makers including Edmund de Waal, Clive Bowen, Magdalene Odundo, Svend Bayer and Gordon Baldwin. She also wrote about ceramics for A-N magazine, Resurgence and Ceramic Review, including reviews of the Frieze Art Fair and Venice Biennale.

Hannah is passionate about the historic country pots made in Fremington, North Devon, from the 17th to 20th century, which so inspired Michael Cardew. She was involved in the launch of the RJ Lloyd Collection of North Devon slipware, when it was acquired by the Burton Art Gallery in Bideford. This gave her a unique opportunity to handle, study and draw these remarkable pots and inspired her to make her own slipware.

She says: ‘I learned so much from weighing the old Fremington pots in my hands, running my thumbs along the maker’s marks, where the handle joins and smudges out, turning them over and tracing the grooves on the base, where they were freshly cut from the wheel.‘

‘In my own work, I hope that people will take pleasure in stopping for a moment in their busy lives and noticing the curve of the handle, or the ridges on the base, when they drink from my cups.’

‘In a digital age, there’s much to be said for these simple tactile riches. Pots are humble objects, but they bring so much texture and love to our lives through simple daily rituals such as making coffee, or bringing a platter of food to the table.’