Pottery West is the ceramics studio of husband and wife makers Catherine and Matt West. We specialise in the design and production of wheel-thrown tableware.
In 2013 we’d just moved back to Sheffield from London (via a brief stint in Berlin - where Matt was learning about slow fermentation and all things baking). Matt was working as a baker, Catherine in various marketing and writing roles - we took a pottery evening class and we were hooked. Although we had studied creative degrees - Matt in Design and Catherine Fine Art (both at Goldsmiths), it was the first time for us working with clay.
Months later, completely addicted to clay, we found ourselves driving to Pembrokeshire to pick up a wheel from a potter who was retiring; we found a kiln; equipment and tools seemed to come our way. The rest is history.
Although we are largely self-taught, clay does run in the family. Matt’s father was a sculptor, often using clay to model with, and on his maternal side, we’ve recently discovered a few generations of potters and ‘clay workers’, who moved from France to London to Staffordshire, working for Royal Doulton. So it is in the genes - we wonder if our own children will develop a love for clay too.
