Carolyn Noble has been making functional stoneware pottery on a potter’s wheel in her small garden studio in South Lincolnshire for the last five years. More recently she has started developing her own glazes and is drawn to the quirkiness of exposed clay, colours and speckles in clay and glazes with a matte finish.

Working as a small batch potter gives Carolyn the time to experiment with design, whether that is through using a variety of clays with different textures and effects or through the finishes in developed glazes. The aim is to make a piece which is tactile, simple and contemporary in design, interesting, and a joy to use.

For Carolyn a table of individual pots means far more than a contrived set in the same colour or form. Connecting with the piece is important. This connection can be from the texture and feel of the pot, the angle of the handle on a mug, and the marks of the making process. We all have that ‘go to’ favourite mug because it can feel comforting to hold or simply nice to drink from.

Inspiration comes in many different forms with Carolyn’s main influence originating from Scandinavian design, simple clear lines and a careful balance between beauty, practicality, form and function.

Living in the heart of the fens and so close to the Wash brings a huge variety of experiences which are incorporated in her work. The earthiness of the farmscapes, the hedgerows with an ever-changing variety of incredible wildflowers, the saltmarshes, the nature reserves and not forgetting the ‘big skies’. Many of the colours in these environments are evident in Carolyn’s current range of pottery.