Kate Malone. Photo © Robert Greshoff.
Now in its tenth year, London Craft Week (LCW) is a city-wide festival that celebrates exceptional craftsmanship from around the world. To commemorate its first decade, LCW presents Secret Ceramics in partnership with FiredUp4 this year. A charitable initiative presented at SoShiro Gallery, Secret Ceramics showcases more than 100 single-stem vessels created by leading artists, tastemakers, and graduate students, but with all creators remaining anonymous until after a piece is sold.
Here, Kate Malone — one of the artists participating in Secret Ceramics and one of the founders of FiredUp4 — sits down with Phillips to discuss her approach to the medium, the mission of FiredUp4, and London Craft Week.
London Craft Week 2024 will take place from 13–19 May.
PHILLIPS: When did you first become interested in ceramics and who and what inspired you to begin working with clay?
KATE MALONE: I fell in love with clay at age 12, in a comprehensive school at a time when the arts education policies were rich with creativity and support. The art department in my school was as important as all the other departments. Times have changed. I fell in love with the material on the first encounter witnessing the extraordinary changes of clay into ceramics. I was hooked then. 52 years later I feel the same way.
P: Have your inspirations and your practice evolved since then?
KM: Well that’s an interesting question. I think the essence of my making has not changed much from the beginning, with nature being a constant inspiration since the first few objects I made. Throughout my career I’ve studied historical ceramics and travelled extensively which has built layers and details in my work. I would like to think that my sense of form has evolved with an ever more critical eye. What has not changed is my passion for the process which still has the magic it had at the start.
What’s special to me is that having built my practice, I’m now in the position to create impact in the ceramic community and beyond. Being a co-founder of FiredUp4 — with our mission of placing soft clay into young hands — is a project I’m so proud of. I believe that creativity is to be nurtured within the young through education, not necessarily to make a nation of artists, but to make a nation that is ingenious and creative within their profession. This starts in our FiredUp4 after-school clay sessions in OnSide Youth Zones. These Youth Zones are built in areas of the UK that really need them, and the mission is to ensure all young people discover their passion and purpose. So far, our fundraising has supported eight ceramic studios. The impact of the work with clay, youth workers, and the young is gradual but sincerely important. Mental wellbeing, self-confidence and managing feelings are just a few of the areas that are assessed by the Youth Zones. Our impact is showing that working with clay adds a unique method of building these essential qualities.
Works offered in Secret Ceramics.
P: What does London Craft Week and their tenth anniversary Secret Ceramics initiative mean for you and for the ceramics community in London?
KM: It’s so gratifying that London Craft Week reached out to us to do this fundraiser to celebrate their tenth anniversary. They have invited a brilliant range of artists from fresh graduates to the really established, and also invited some celebrities to make too. The single stem idea is really lovely, it’s about being open to appreciating simple beautiful details. A single stem could be the elegance of a twig or the stage for an exotic flower. I think everyone is going to have a lot of fun guessing the secret artist behind the work. The fact that it’s a fixed price sale of £300 per ceramic vessel (with additional donations welcomed) is clever. The vast majority of the donating artists sell far in excess of this, but the sale makes this accessible for more people to have a taste of an artist’s work in their lives.
P: The funds raised from the sale of the Secret Ceramics works will support the opening of a new FiredUp4 studio in London, how did FiredUp4 come to be and what is your mission?
KM: We work with OnSide a national youth charity determined to make sure that all young people have the opportunity to shine and the chance to discover their passion and their purpose. OnSide builds a network of state-of-the-art, multimillion-pound Youth Zones in the UK’s most disadvantaged areas. At FiredUp4 we fundraise for ceramic studios to expand their creative ambition. We know that the tactile, meditative qualities of working with clay add a new dimension to the possibilities of working with young people. Put simply, OnSide reach young people that need to have access to more opportunities to realize their potential. We work to put clay into those young hands, to open their creative minds in a way that is only possible with this fantastic material.
Works offered in Secret Ceramics.
P: What is next for the new studio and for FiredUp4?
KM: When we fund a studio, we invest in bags of clay, the kiln, tools, etc., but we also set up a structure of training and support for the art lead and youth workers. This means ensuring basic skills can be taught, but we also see how clay fits into the bigger picture. The Youth Zones have loads of themed activities around local culture. But often the clay sessions are just a way for young people to relax and chat (or be quiet) and work with clay while they unwind. Often, it’s the freedom to create without a brief which can be the most powerful.
