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©Alun Callender
©Kay Aplin
©Alun Callender
©Alun Callender
©All rights reserved

Kay Aplin

  • The Ceramic House
  • Ceramicist
  • Brighton, United Kingdom
  • Master Artisan
Kay Aplin Ceramicist
Contact
English, German, Italian, Spanish
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+44 7803161313
©Darren Cool

Architectural ceramicist

  • • Kay loves botanical themes
  • • A digital microscope helps her to uncover hidden details in flora
  • • For her, touching is as important as looking

Ceramics give Kay Aplin a sense of freedom to be able to make whatever she wants. She discovered this after experimenting with weaving and jewellery, while studying for her foundation course at Central Saint Martins in London and it changed her life forever. Brought up in Scotland, she has lived in Denmark, Guatemala, Italy and Spain, before moving to Brighton in 2008, where she opened a studio at Phoenix Artspace. In 2011 she created The Ceramic House: her home, a pop-up gallery, an artists' residency and a living work of art, where she permanently showcases her architectural ceramic installations and collaborates with sound artist Joseph Young. An artist and a curator, Kay Aplin creates public art commissions using stoneware ceramic, “the most effective, enduring material to inject colour into the environment”.

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©All rights reserved
  • ©All rights reserved
  • ©Bernard G Mills
  • ©Bernard G Mills
  • ©All rights reserved
Photo: ©All rights reserved
Spikey Plants

Spikey Plants, from Kay’s Botanical Structures series, depicts a row of five leaf-shaped relief tiles, wall mounted. The colours range from pinks and browns to blues and blacks. The tiles are slip cast porcelain fired in a wood kiln with soda.

Length 1.2 cm
Width 4 cm
Height 0.6 cm

Photo: ©All rights reserved
Ceramic Wallpaper: Peonies

Peonies is a wall mounted repeating pattern of relief tiles in the shape of peony flowers linked with stems. They are made from unglazed porcelain fired in a wood kiln for six days. The warm colours and textures were caused by the flames and wood ash during the firing.

Length 1.4 cm
Width 4 cm
Height 1.8 cm

Photo: ©Bernard G Mills
Fire & Water: Honewort Roundel

Honewort Roundel is a wall mounted circular arrangement of relief tiles in the shape of plants in hues of reds, browns and creams. The plants are from a spring in Asturias, translated into clay and slip cast in porcelain fired in a wood kiln with soda.

Diameter 123 cm

Photo: ©Bernard G Mills
Fire & Water: Toadflax Roundel

Toadflax Roundel is a wall mounted circular arrangement of relief tiles in the shape of plants collected from a spring in Asturias. Slip cast porcelain fired in a wood kiln with soda and in an electric kiln results in a palette of blues and greens.

Diameter 85 cm

Photo: ©All rights reserved
Ceramic Wallpaper: Peony #3

A relief tile from Peonies, a wall mounted repeating pattern of relief tiles in the shape of peony flowers consisting of unglazed porcelain fired in a wood kiln for 6 days. The warm colours and textures were caused by flames and wood ash during the firing.

Length 22 cm
Width 4 cm
Height 18 cm

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