CERAMICS 274

Ceramics 274 is a collective that I have been a proud member of since it’s inception. Founding member Ned (EF Davies) gathered a small group of us in Autumn 2016, and we worked together on creating our first pop-up shop that Winter. The name came about from the street number of our first pop-up venue (though we were often called ‘Ceramics 24/7’ - that may have been a better choice!)

We had all met working in the shared studio space Turning Earth, in Hoxton E2. Turning Earth now runs a number of large studios across the city, but back then it was just the small and friendly original space, under a couple of railway arches behind Kingsland Road.

We were all at a similar stages in our ceramic journeys, getting more serious about selling work, some of us transitioning to full-time making. We had different styles and approaches, and felt confident that in showcasing our work together the pieces would contrast with and complement each other.

Over the years since, we have worked together on winter pop-up shops, occasional sample sales, and exhibitions.

We have always held our sample sales at the beautiful Dalston Curve Garden, with a % of our takings being donated to them. We are really proud to have contributed thousands of pounds to this wonderful community project.

The original Ceramics 274 members included Sarah Hall, Andrea Roman, EF Davies, Ditte Blohm, Natascha Madeiski, Ben Sutton, Arjan van Dal, Ida Riveros and Grace McCarthy. Over the years, we welcomed guest artists including John Booth, Tom Kemp, Jode Pankhurst and Elliott Denny. Giuseppe Parrinello also joined us as a permanent member.

It has been a wonderful thing to work on events with a group of such lovely and talented people. We all brought different skills to the table, spreading the load and taking on different tasks - design, photography, accounting, curation, social media, venue sourcing. And we had a lot of fun along the way!

Ceramics 274 is currently snoozing as we all focus on various other projects..