About
Catherine and Matt West work together under their studio name, Pottery West, creating wheel-thrown in stoneware fired both in reduction and oxidation out of their Yorkshire studio.
We draw on our previous experience in design and architecture, making subtle, meticulously detailed and simple wheel-thrown forms often used in a functional context. There is an interplay and tension between perfection and consistency and the looser more poetic quality of the human touch in craft.
Our pots often contain facets, carefully calculated crystalline or layered glazes or specific firing processes which add a sense of narrative and poetry.
We aim for our pots to be a quiet but confident celebration of detail, function and the poetics of making.
Our book ‘Designing and Making Tableware at The Wheel’ was published in 2024.
Autumnus Bowl thrown in an iron-rich stoneware and glazed in our new crackle ash glaze, reduction fired in a gas kiln. This glaze is so beautiful and subtle with a green and blue (depending on the light, as pictured) hue derived entirely from the trace amounts of iron in the wood ash. Flecked and crackled.
Our Autumnus Vase range was first created in 2022, each bowl being designed to fit a medium sized Kenzan, perfect for creating floral arrangements. Simple add the kenzan, arrange the stems and add water. The bowl also works well as a fruit bowl or stand alone decorative piece.
9.3 cm x 29cm
Tea
+ Flowers
Bottle vase thrown in a flecked stoneware and faceted at the wheel. Glazed in a shino glaze and reduction fired in a gas kiln.
18 cm x 6cm
A new body of work from our most recent reduction firing.
Rounded teapot thrown in an iron-rich flecked stoneware and glazed in our pale blue chun glaze, reduction fired in a gas kiln. Iron oxide brushwork has been applied underneath the glaze, and this has emerged beautifully one one side, the other side is swept under a an intricately blue wave of colour where the glaze is thicker and has ‘done its thing’ in the heat of the kiln. this unexpected drama and contrast only heightens the beauty and individualism of the piece.
This teapot is part of a wider collection of teapots we made for our 2026 reduction fired collection, each one made intuitively and completely unique.
9.5cm x 14 cm / 595ml