Shelf Expression
For ceramicist Olivia Horley, handmade pottery has always been part of her daily life. From the French studio potter who lived on her family's farm to a Rudolf Steiner education which believes in making by hand and human connection.
Visiting Horley at home, it is evident that the objects with which she surrounds herself bring profound comfort and joy.
"These are shelves which place pots from every decade of my life alongside each other." explains the artist maker - "Some inherited from my mother's Mexican childhood complete with her stories attached in my mind and embedded in the feel of them; some from my parents' honeymoon collecting Danish ceramics; even some that go back to my Grandfather's childhood in China."
Having been an apprentice for Edmund de Waal in the early part of her career, one of her most treasured objects is a gift from the acclaimed ceramicist to mark the birth of her son.
Alongside pots she found in a Marché aux Puces in Brittany, or pots made by friends, she has bought pots to inspire her such as an early piece by Robert Spira. This sits in amongst work she has made herself and even miniature pots from her childhood dolls house.
Horley eloquently describes the objects in her collection as "ringing with the history of my life and standing in conversation with each other.
"I reference them like a library, re-examining a detail as I design my own work. They anchor me, remind me who I am over the years."
"They anchor me, remind me who I am over the years."
Olivia Horley
