Quiet Corners: Minimalist Ceramics for Peaceful Living by Ania Perkowska

Walthamstow-based ceramic artist Ania Perkowska finds tranquillity to be a guiding principle that shapes her artistry, rather than just a lifestyle choice.

In her exhibition “Quiet Corners”, in Estates East during The E17 Art Trail 2024, Ania invites us to slow down and embrace the beauty of “less is more.”  

Inspiration

Ania’s childhood experiences is in communist Poland, where stark concrete structures dominated the landscape. They inspire her work, reflecting a deep appreciation for simplicity and contrast. This formative experience laid the foundation for her artistic vision. It inspired her to explore the tension between order and chaos, between the structured and the organic.

At the heart of Ania’s work lies a deep reverence for the medium of clay. Her designs, characterised by geometric forms and minimalistic decoration, speak to a timeless elegance that transcends trends and fads. 

Ania’s art has more than just visual appeal it’s an invitation to engage with the senses. From a distance, her pieces may seem quiet and unassuming. Yet, it is only upon closer inspection that their true beauty is revealed. Running your fingers along the textured surfaces, and feeling the weight of a carefully crafted mug in your hands—these are the moments that elevate everyday objects into vessels of joy and contemplation.

Tactility

Every piece is not just a functional object, but a conduit for mindfulness and serenity. Whether it’s a sleek vase adorning your workspace or a delicately glazed mug cradling your favourite beverage, Ania’s ceramics encourage us to find moments of stillness and connection in our daily lives.

Ania’s commitment to craftsmanship extends beyond her studio practice. As the founder of Boso Studio, she shares her passion for pottery through teaching classes and empowering others to discover the meditative joy of working with clay.

In a world that often seems chaotic and overwhelming, Ania Perkowska’s ceramics remind us of the power of simplicity to soothe the soul. In her artwork, we are invited to embrace the beauty of quiet corners and create havens of peace within our homes amidst the noise.

Exhibition Info

Dates: 1st – 16th June

Location: Estate East, 40 Orford Road, E17 9NJ

Admission: Free

All work exhibited is for sale. You can purchase your piece online and it will be delivered to you once the exhibition is finished. Click here to view and purchase.

About E17 Art Trail

The E17 Art Trail festival makes visible and celebrates the creativity of artists and creative citizens living and working in and around Walthamstow, East London. It is produced and gently curated by Artillery.

​The festival programme grows from the ideas percolating in our neighbourhoods and among artists. Collaborations and partnerships evolve between artists, with businesses, community groups, learning settings, faith places, and neighbourhoods: collectively we transform our experience of where we live, work and play through art.

​The E17 Art Trail grew into an 18 day biennial festival since its inception in 2005. It was devised in 2004 by two Walthamstow artists as a way for artists to share their work locally with next-to-no conventional exhibiting opportunities. In 2024, we celebrate 20 years of the E17 Art Trail!

The 20th Anniversary Edition:⁣
16 days, 150 venues across Walthamstow. The E17 Art Trail is an artist-led, community-powered arts festival. ⁣

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Tracing ancient connections to natural materials and contemporary mythologies, the eight makers featured in CAA‘s London Craft Week exhibition weave routes through history and across cartographies in which elemental materials such as clay and gold become intermediaries for human relationships to place.

From our ancient past to the modern day, humans have always been drawn to leaving their mark on a landscape. We have laid down stones in memory, scratched names and scribbles into surfaces and collected memories of places we have been. Working across ceramics, textiles and metal, all eight makers featured in Traces: Imagined Histories in Clay, Silver & Thread use materials as an intermediary for human relationships to place and memory. Traces: Imagined Histories in Clay, Silver and Thread presents exciting new bodies of work from both established and emerging makers. The exhibition is presented alongside a series of events, including workshops in weaving with plant-dyed yarns and making floral sculptures from paper clay, and a talk by jeweller Vicki Ambery-Smith on how London’s skyline inspires her fine jewellery.

VICKI AMBERY-SMITH
GILL FORSBROOK
ALI HOLLOWAY
GILLES LE CORRE
NANCY MAIN
ANIA PERKOWSKA
HANNA SALOMONSSON
SASHA WARDELL

Unveiling the Void: Minimalist Black Porcelain at London Craft Week

I’m thrilled to announce my participation in London Craft Week this year! As part of the exciting showcase at the Contemporary Applied Arts gallery, I’ll be unveiling a new collection of minimalist black porcelain vessels.

For years, I’ve been captivated by the interplay of form and function in ceramics. This collection embodies that fascination, stripping away ornamentation to reveal the raw beauty of black porcelain. Each piece is a vessel in the truest sense – a container for light, shadow, and perhaps, the viewer’s imagination.

The rich blackness of the porcelain isn’t just an aesthetic choice. It’s a material exploration, pushing the boundaries of porcelain’s potential. The deep, inky hue is achieved through a specific combination of clays and firing techniques, resulting in a surface that’s both smooth and subtly textured, inviting closer inspection.

The shapes themselves are a celebration of minimalism. Soft curves and clean lines define the collection, with each vessel existing in a harmonious tension between form and space. There’s a sense of quietude and contemplation in these pieces, an invitation for the viewer to slow down and appreciate the subtle play of light on the black surface.

Whether displayed individually or as a curated group, these vessels are designed to be more than just objects. They’re intended to spark conversation, to prompt introspection, and to act as focal points within a space.

A date for your calendar!

📆 13 – 19 May
📍Contemporary Applied Arts, 6 Paddington Street, London, W1U 5QG

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The Craft Potters Association always curates a strong line up and this year is no exception with 61 exhibitors confirmed, from Cornwall to Scotland.

Whether you’re a seasoned collector or simply curious about the world of ceramics, the York Ceramics Fair is an unmissable event. Here are just a few reasons why:

Why visit

• Discover a world of creativity: From delicate porcelain to rustic stoneware, functional tableware to whimsical sculptures, the fair offers a smorgasbord of ceramic delights. Therefore you’ll find everything from traditional forms to cutting-edge contemporary pieces. It is guaranteed to tantalize your eyes and inspire your imagination.
• Meet the makers: One of the best things about the fair is the opportunity to chat with the artists themselves. They’re passionate about their craft and love to share their stories and techniques. So you can learn about the inspiration behind their work. But also the challenges they face, and the joy they find in creating something beautiful from clay.
• Find the perfect piece for your home: Whether you’re looking for a unique vase to brighten up your living room or a special mug for your coffee, you’re sure to find something you love at the fair. With so many talented artists to choose from, you’re guaranteed to find a piece that reflects your personal style and taste.
• Support the arts: By attending the fair, you’re not just buying beautiful ceramics, you’re also supporting the livelihoods of talented artists. The fair is a vital platform for established makers to showcase their work and connect with new customers.
• Enjoy a day out in York: The fair is a great excuse to spend a day exploring the beautiful city of York. With its historic streets, charming cafes, and world-class museums, York has something to offer everyone.

York Ceramics Fair – LOCATION

YORK RACECOURSE, Knavesmire Road, York, YO23 1EX

Venue: We’re happy to share that York Ceramics Fair 2024 will be hosted at the iconic York Racecourse for another year. This bright and open venue ensures ease of access and on-site parking for guests.

Access: York Racecourse is a fully accessible venue. There will be Blue Badge parking just near the entrance through the Houghton Building where there is a ramp down to the main entrance.

Ticketing: To aid with distancing, tickets are issued for before 1pm and after 1pm. Once inside, you may stay as long as you like.

As always, under 16s do not need a ticket.

Tips for planning your visit to the York Ceramics Fair:

• Purchase your tickets in advance to avoid queues.
• Bring cash as some artists may not accept cards.
• Be prepared to be tempted! There are so many beautiful pieces to choose from, so it’s easy to get carried away.
• Most importantly, relax and enjoy the experience. The York Ceramics Fair is a celebration of all things ceramic, so take your time, chat with the artists, and soak up the creative atmosphere.

I hope this blog post has inspired you to visit the York Ceramics Fair. Finally, if you’re looking for a unique and enriching experience, this event is definitely worth adding to your calendar.

Additional Information:

• The next York Ceramics Fair will take place on March 9th and 10th, 2024.
• For more information about the fair, please visit the official website: https://www.yorkceramicsfair.com/
• To see my other events and exhibitions click here
• If you can’t make it to the show, don’t worry. You can always buy a selection of my work online

I hope you have a wonderful time at the fair!

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MADE LONDON is a friendly, relaxed contemporary craft and design fair, where the makers themselves meet the public to discuss inspirations, design processes and future projects, enabling maker / consumer relationships. Work can be bought at the event or commissions can be taken.

After an enforced break due to Covid and related issues, MADE LONDON returns to a new venue, bigger and better.

We aim for MADE LONDON to be the best show of its kind in the country. We seek out and select the most original and innovative designer makers in this country and beyond to exhibit with us. A diverse selection of around 120 exhibitors across all disciplines making for an exciting contemporary design and craft fair.

Photo Karen Thomas

MADE London – Visitors Information:

Visitors Information:

MADE London – Tickets

Tickets for entry to the show at a specific time slot will able to be bought online @£10 up to 9 October, @£12 thereafter til 29th October. 

Buy Tickets Here

Tickets also available on the door at £15.00 per person  (children under 14 free).

Opening Times

• Private View Thursday 2nd November 2023 6.00-9.00pm
• Friday 3rd November 2023 from 10.30am – 6.00pm
• Saturday 4th November 2022 from 10.30am – 6.00pm
• Sunday 5th November 2022 from 10.30am – 5.00pm

MADE – Venue

MADE LONDON – ANGEL takes place at THE BLOCK, White Lion Street, Islington, N1 9PD

The Venue is a few yards from Angel Tube station across Islington High Street.

View Larger Map

Cafes

Drinks, cakes and light lunches will be available at MADE LONDON – there are a lot of great cafes and restaurants in the surrounding streets.

Parking

There is on-street parking in Islington and carparks at Upper Street and Elia Street

Public Transport

Angel Tube Station is very close to the venue. Kings Cross/St Pancras is within walking distance/by bus up Pentonville Road.

Access

The Block is fully accessible to customers with mobility issues. There are several parking spaces nearby for those with blue badges.

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With an eclectic selection of ceramic work to suit all budgets, this is your chance to meet the makers and buy everything from practical tableware to ornamental objects and striking one-off collector pieces. Earthy stoneware will be displayed alongside delicate porcelain and vivid painterly pots will contrast with elegant, muted tones in an extravaganza of texture, colour and style. The show will feature a mix of well-established makers together with rising talents and include a live demonstration of different ceramic techniques.

Museum of the Home

136 Kingsland Road

London

E2 8EA

Tickets available now:

https://museumofthehome.digitickets.co.uk/event-tickets/50730?catID=41874

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Contemporary Applied Arts will be showcasing 2022 New Maker Members during a special event. Visitors can also join London’s original multi-disciplinary gallery during our Open Weekend (12 – 13 Nov) to meet some of the Makers behind the work. 

This is a brilliant opportunity to learn more about the rising stars of the applied arts industry and browse the brand new collections. 

CAA Members are some of the most talented craft makers in the UK today. They work in variety of disciplines, including ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, metal and wood.

Contemporary Applied Arts is London’s original multi-disciplinary applied arts gallery. The gallery is located in Marylebone.

During this show I will be presenting my tall black vessels. They are designed as statement pieces for modern interiors. Wheel thrown black stoneware with white and red decoration. My surface techniques include freehand brush strokes, mono printing and sgraffito. There is an oriental/Japanese feel to my work as well as minimalistic simplicity.

Visitors Information:

Contemporary Applied Arts

6 Paddington Street
London
W1U 5QG

OPENING TIMES                   

Open Tuesday – Saturday

Online 24 hours 

Tues – Fri  – 11:00 – 17:00

Sat – 11:00 – 16:30

CAA was founded in 1948. It has continued to demonstrate the richness of craft in Britain for over 70 years. CAA represents many of the most talented applied artists living and working in the UK today. It is a registered charity and a membership organisation. It includes more than two hundred leading British-based craft-maker artists working variety of disciplines. CAA views this inter-disciplinary approach as a harmonious dialogue between materials. Techniques and diverse approaches to making are equally important. Selected members are craft professionals and are rigorously chosen by a panel of their peers. Belonging to CAA is seen as a kite mark of excellence.

For more information about CAA click here

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This well known event will present over 60 exhibitors. UK’s leading potters & ceramics makers will be exhibiting and selling their ceramics directly to the public. So it is a perfect opportunity not only to acquire a beautiful piece but support the sector of independent artists.

There will be a wide range of styles and techniques. For example, delicate porcelain vessels by Justine Allison, hand built and painted. On the other hand, Jane Cairns will be showing her abstract, concrete-like sculptures with rough surfaces.

Meanwhile, Sue Hannah, inspired by tribal art will show saggar and raku fired vessels. Whilst Barbara Gittings will exhibit her unique nerikomi pieces. They are made of porcelain and are subtle, tactile, sensuous and contemplative. They are unglazed, smoke fired and waxed which gives them a rich and almost ancient look.

I will be showing some of my latest work, for example the tall black vessels with slip decoration. All my vessels are thrown on the wheel. Then I polished and scrape, polish and scrape to achieve rich and interesting textures. You can see some of the pieces here.  

Oxford Ceramics Fair is a long established event, going for 26 years. As a result, this guarantees a high level of presented work and artists reputation.

Visiting Information Oxford Ceramics Fair 2022

OXFORD CERAMICS FAIR 2022 – VISITING INFORMATION

OPENING TIMES

Saturday 29th October 10am – 5pm

Sunday 30th October 10am – 4pm

HOW TO FIND US

St Edward’s School Sports Hall, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 7NZ

Travel by car

If you are coming by car there is parking available at the sports hall and in the school grounds, or you can use Pear Tree Park and Ride and take the 300 bus to the school.

For more information and tickets to the event, click here.

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Celebrating Ceramics will showcase a stunning collection of diverse artists. For example: Antonia Salmon, Craig Underhill, Sharon Griffin, Jim Malone, Tony Laverick, Adrian Bates and Peter Hayes.

Celebrating Ceramics is organised by Craft In Focus. They have been staging contemporary craft events for over 20 years. Part of the organising team includes the curator of ceramics of Art in Action for 26 years. Certainly, the organisers wanted to keep the festival ethos of Art In Action at the heart of Celebrating Ceramics. The public can now expect an event with the same atmosphere as Art In Action. Importantly, a loyal following of ceramic artists who want to demonstrate and meet their collecting public at this wonderful event.

Moreover, a range of demonstrations will offer an insight into the creative process. See first-hand from the artists and understand more about their influences.

Miniature Ceramics Competition

Make Mine Miniature

Once again the special Make Mine Miniature competition will take place at Celebrating Ceramics 2022.

Firstly, exhibiting artists will make a unique miniature piece. Secondly, each piece must be a true representation of their work. Additionally, it has to fit inside a Cone Box (7.6 by 15.2cm). Cones are used to monitor firings to gauge the temperature inside the kiln. In short, this helps to ensure a successful firing.

Exhibitors will be displaying the miniature version of their work on their stand. So do keep an eye out for these amazing pieces!

Visitor Information

Visiting Information

15 – 17 July 2022

Open: 10-5.30 Daily • Free Parking

Tickets available in advance from 1 April

All tickets must be bought online in advance. 

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February starts with an exciting show at Bevere Gallery in Worcester. Two ceramics makers: Akiko Hirai and Ania Perkowska. Each explore different approaches to surface and texture. As a result, the show presents how contrast and drama is obtained from a single material.

Akiko Hirai has confirmed popularity as one of the best-selling ceramicists in the UK. Importantly, this is confirmation of the distinctiveness and quality of her work.

Without doubt it is the very contemporary look which she brings to work. This look is clearly influenced by her Japanese heritage. Her creative voice is hers alone. She brings a very different perspective to her pot making.

Akiko’s pieces have great presence, even when she is producing modest scale work. Her pieces are always highly textural. Handling her work is a visual and tactile experience. Her work demonstrates that design and texture give as much pleasure as the highly decorative.

Her complex surfaces are worthy of study. There is nothing random or casual here. However, there is precision and balance in loose abstract construct.

Ania Perkowska is a new maker at Bevere whose work makes an immediate impact. She creates functional pieces inspired by contrasts and opposites. Working mainly in stoneware, her techniques include organic textures, sgrafitto and slip trailing.

Ania’s work draws from the rawness, seeking beauty in simplicity of the form, tactility of the texture. Above all, she explores how limitations can inspire and release creativity, the tension between the ordered and the organic. 

She is inspired by geometric forms, minimalistic decoration and natural qualities of the materials. Pushing the material to its limits and to express those formative, dynamic relationships between contrasts and opposites. 

In conclusion, from a distance, Ania’s work can appear quiet. But is only when one gets closer, when one touches and holds her pieces that they get to see the detail, feel the texture, experience the surfaces. 

About Bevere Gallery

Bevere Gallery as one of the leading UK ceramic showcases. Not only in the eyes of our clients but also the significant number of ceramicists that we represent. The Gallery’s philosophy has remained a constant. Firstly, it is to demonstrate and promote high level skills in contemporary studio ceramics. Secondly, the range and diversity of making styles and support for emerging talent. Similarly, we also believe in setting work in the wider context of original prints and paintings.

Representing over 100 ceramicists places Bevere alongside the best of the UK’s galleries. Subsequently our exhibition schedules show that we continue to attract makers among the ceramic elite. Informality is also an essential element here. As a result, engaging with our visitors is important. They need to be able to ask about what is in front of them. In addition, to be able to gain insights into the creative process. Finally, Bevere Gallery has maintained its standards over the last fifteen years. Certainly it has taken the view that quality attracts visitors and sustains their interest.

Visiting Information

OPENING HOURS

Tuesday – Saturday  10 – 4
Sunday & Monday – Closed

or other times by appointment. Please telephone us on 07980 867 050 or email enquiries@beveregallery.com.

Bevere Gallery
Bevere Lane
Worcester
WR3 7RQ

Situated north of Worcester, the Gallery is quickly accessible from the A449 and Junction 6 of the M5
We have free parking outside the gallery and wheelchair access. This includes ramps or very small steps into the exhibitions.

There is no admission charge. Our opening hours are 10am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday throughout the year. We are closed on Sundays and Mondays.

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