Cool clay
Carla Sealey, behind the brand Naked Clay Ceramics, hand crafts beautiful, minimalist-style tableware from clay.
What’s your backstory? I was a scientist but a combination of work and domestic crises found me realising just how unhappy I was, so I did an arts degree. I love clay – if it goes wrong you can squidge it up and start again. I like making simple undistracting shapes that you want to hold in your hand. Everyday items are important; we incorporate them into the daily rituals that give us comfort.
Where do you work? In a studio based in an old plant nursery, with another five artists. It takes a couple of weeks to make the solid clay into liquid. I pour it into moulds, then add handles. Then another couple of weeks for it to dry, go into the kiln, get sanded and glazed and back into the kiln.
What inspires you? The natural world; shells and pebbles on the beach. nakedclayceramics.com; @nakedclayceramics