Our Story

Whilst out at dinner with friends our friend Rosie said ‘I just want to sit around playing with clay and drinking wine’ and I thought ‘yeah, me too – we could do that,’ and so the journey began… From ugly outhouses to the stunning bespoke green oak studio we have today.

I have always gravitated towards clay and specialised in ceramics when doing my 3D design degree at Middlesex University over 20 years ago. I love working with people and sharing the sense of wellbeing I get from working with clay.  Over the years I have enjoyed supporting adults and secondary school students with 3D clay projects and more recently have run 3D art and craft home education sessions at local gallery Firstsite.

Working with clay can support well being and inspire creativity but it’s not always easy to find somewhere to work so we looked into converting some old outbuildings in our garden. We quickly concluded that they were too grim for what we really wanted to do so we set about designing somewhere to inspire wellbeing and creativity and were drawn to the warmth and light of oak and glass.

We commissioned a local builder to bring our ideas to life and after a lot of hard work Clayshape studio was open in Autumn 2016. Soon after launch we were joined by Sarah Waters who has been supporting lessons at the studio and working alongside Nicky while they produce their own work and Sarah finishes her 3D design degree. Clayshape recently sponsored Sarah to exhibit at New Designers 2018 at the Business Design Centre in London.