At home with Izzy K Ceramics
Izzy is the talent behind Izzy K ceramics. She specialises in hand-built ceramics that bridge the gap between art, sculpture and function. She invites Talking Things to her home in South East London to share her story of resilience and creativity.
On entering Izzy’s house, where she lives with her husband Will, you are met with an abundance of colour and interest. The entrance is lined with art prints, each one tastefully positioned so that what could have easily felt crowded in the wrong hands, instead feels considered and chic. Shelves are home to vintage objects and figurines, juxtaposed with contemporary pieces, each one as individual as the next. Unique and quirky travel mementoes sit alongside design classics, provoking intrigue.
Every object in their house prompts a question and on asking Izzy about her childhood it all starts to make sense. Izzy grew up in Mid Wales and Manchester with a large extended creative family “Not traditionally creative,” she explains, “my Grandad was an amateur actor, and my Dad had a record company. When we were growing up,. everyone always had day jobs to earn money and then they had these other creative outlets on the side. My Grandad was an actor and worked in the theatre selling ice creams at intermission too. My Nana – she always loved going to car boot sales and rooting around finding stuff and she had her vintage shop when I was little. On the other side of my family my mum and stepdad now run a vintage shop online too.
"But all our houses have little things we collect; things full of print and colour. We’re all just magpies, I’ve been brought up around that.”
From her art foundation course, to studying visual communication at Art School in Glasgow Izzy has always been drawn to mixed media and hands-on creative processes. She explains how she loves ideas behind things “I just didn’t want to be in front of a computer,” she explains, “I found it a bit soul destroying.” She points towards another room in the house: “All those draws in there are full of stamps and stickers and little bits of ephemera that I’ve collected over the years. But I get that from my dad and my family, they are massive hoarders.” she jokes.
“My dad has a collection of Japanese football magazines from the 70’s – its ridiculous stuff – we’re collectors at heart!”
Until recently Izzy worked in a studio, throwing pottery at the wheel. However Covid-19 had other ideas for her. Due to being furloughed from her job, as well as shielding, Izzy was unable to get to her studio. “I sat here for months and every day I was like ‘I need to make a pot’, because I had nothing else to do.”
“Everyone had a shit time in their own way and people are still feeling the repercussions.”
It’s clear that Izzy’s home space took on a new role for her and pottery shifted from a hobby to a lifeline. Without access to her usual equipment, Izzy was resourceful and taught herself hand-building. Starting with simple shapes, built from cookie cutters and homemade tools, she saw past her limitations and has not only created characterful and unique pieces, but has defined a whole new creative direction for her work - characterised by recurring shapes. “That’s why it looks like it does, because I’m just doing it with what I have.” Despite her modesty, Izzy has pioneered a unique and distinctive style for herself which cannot be described as anything else but original. When I ask her if she will go back to throwing at the wheel she explains
“I love clay because you can do anything with it and now I’m doing hand building, I feel like it’s more me. Before I was doing big pots with lovely painting. Now it’s more about function and use as well. I really enjoy making different shapes – I love the geometric stuff and big slab bottles. Form and colour, I guess.”
Izzy has found her niche in the pottery world creating experimental and tactile pieces; “A lot of pottery is very beautiful and functional; people are doing it so well, but that’s not me. It’s not that my pieces are all one-offs as I do repeat styles, but they all have their own personality.
It’s not a manufacturing line, it’s just me sitting in that room doing it. And I don’t think I will ever be making stuff on mass. The sort of stuff I do is the art side of pottery. I like too many different colours and patterns and shapes. Maybe in five years I will have ranges but at the moment, I am just drawing things and making them.”
Izzy’s immediate plans involve relocating outside of London where she would like a bigger studio space in her back garden. “I want to get into making lamps and lamp bases. When I have a space again, I want to start making bigger things, then I can do more homeware in short limited edition runs. I really like having stuff around too.” She gestures around the room at her pieces nestled on the windowsill “You’ve got to use them or there’s no point.”
As she moves from strength to strength, we can’t wait to see where Izzy takes her craft.
Click here to shop Izzy's latest one-of-a-kind and limited edition collection
