2023 AWARD WINNER | Manchester School of Art

SARAH NUNES Manchester School of Art | BA (Hons) Product Design & Craft

Recipient of the Potclays Graduate Award in 2023 as part of our Educlaytion programme

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Tell us about yourself, your work, and your career path so far.

I’m a ceramicist, material explorer and surface developer, my making journey explores throwing handmade objects, it’s a process I have accomplished through the practice and design through making method. I believe my specialism lies within decorating the surface with intriguing glazes, through testing multiples glazes, application of several layers, to create surfaces that resembles food and its making process. The produced surface a complete special effect surface that captures blend and movement, like the view of ingredients being mixed during cooking. All to make the dining experience meaningful and special, allowing the user to connect to the food through the colours and textures reflected onto the serving vessel. This has a strong connection to my heritage, upbringing and lifestyle having lived in two different countries. The objects created are a celebratory representation of Indian cuisine, highlighting the making of ‘thali’- a platter that is packed with flavour, being introduced to not just a single dish but samples of many. What ‘thali’ truly offers is a taste of the exotic spices used within the cuisine, which is what Indian cuisine is known for, spices and flavour making every dish exquisite. Which has become an integral part of my project for now and the future, being able to translate these qualities across into ceramics to finding a balance with it being aesthetically pleasing yet food safe.

Describe your first encounter with clay?

The feel of the plastic clay was a sense of freedom for my ideas to be mould into endless possibilities, from being purely abstract or simply functional.
The ‘Throwing on the wheel’ process is what I challenged myself to learn, being able to follow the rhythm of the spinning wheel while shaping the lump of clay into tangible things. This learning process was not simple but had to be done, to be able to acquire this skill I had to dissect every piece that came off the wheel, this allowed me to examine how well I threw the pot.
Where initially I would leave extra clay at the base, but as I progressed, I stared to evenly distribute the clay creating consistent walls. Without this dissecting process I don’t think I would understand throwing, this method was a visual guide to my throwing journey and towards the end I saw the progress I have made in producing fine pots.
Which looking back I am glad to have stuck to, this process is now what drives all my projects, every idea starts on the wheel and develops with the spinning wheel.

Why did you choose ceramics?

Earthy material such as clay being introduced to heat and being transformed into a permanent thing, that people can interact in their daily lives was simple my reason for doing ceramics. As a maker of functional, everyday objects, I was able to make an influence on people. Change norms and allow people to celebrate life in a different way.  

Where do you find inspiration? Places, people, objects, music...

The Japanese culture of celebrating every day, imperfections and creating objects that are beautiful in meaning, yet practical to be able to use is my inspiration…
Majority of Japanese domestic wares are decorated on the inside surface, this is as they strongly believe in creating a wholesome dining experience. When dining the food covers the pattern on the inside of the dish but with every bite that is eaten a tiny bit of the design is uncovered and by the end of the meal, the person has enjoyed a delicious meal and is left with design that can be admired and used as a conversation starter. Having this authority to connect people, food and encourage them in making meaningful memories is what motivates me to continue being a maker.

What are the tools of your trade that you can't do without?

• Potter’s wheel (main process of production)
• Marine ply wooden batts (useful in batch throwing)
• Metal kidney (form shaper)
• Sponge (cleaning up the form)
• Handmade trimming tool (can be used on wall and foot ring)
• Scales (measuring clay lumps and glaze ingredients)
• Hake brushes (glaze mixing)

What is a typical day in the studio like?

Day starts at 09:00am with cleaning the workshop clay wedging benches, plaster batts and wooden work top desks.
Preparation: measuring individual clay lumps, weighing them and giving them a spritz od water so that they don’t dry out.
Gathering required tools, wooden bats and bowl of water – to begin throwing until mid-day/lunch time.
*Covering the thrown pieces loosely, so they are a conformable softness the next day to be able to ‘Turn’.
Rest of the afternoon I spend time glazing bisque fired pots, so they can be fired in the kiln the next day (prior glazing allows the pots to be dried of moisture before firing- good practice).
If I’m mixing a new glaze – I will test on the two different clay body test tiles and glaze a bowl each to see the results on a larger surface.
Going back to the glazed pieces for another glaze coat after a 1hr time gap, the gap allows the first coated glaze to dry and loose moisture, ready for the second layer of glaze over the top using the spraying method. This help avoid cross contamination of two different glazes and gives the pieces an even distribution of glaze coating.
Next day: cleaning the bases using wet sponge to ensure no glaze is stuck which would fuse it to the kiln shelf after firing, plus my ‘drip vessels’ are hand wiped halfway up the bowl to create a scalloped edge giving me the desire effect.

What do the next 12 months have in store for you?

Gaining experience through volunteering or interning within workshops.
I would very much like to attend the clay college, at Stoke-on-Trent. The idea of them teaching me the skills such as building my own kilns, different firing techniques and scaling my work. All this will aid me in my creative journey.
Also, building on the connection I make of the people already working in the handmade functional ware industry, in hope to be able to set up my own studio space.  

What advice do you have for those currently studying ceramics in further education?

Explore every idea you think, through physically making you learn not only about the material but also will develop a pattern, which becomes your unique voice.
Experiment with all techniques-hand building, throwing, slip casting. Each process as its own charm, see what appeals to you and your object the most. Question every outcome, try to recreate your ‘happy accidents’ in doing so you gain control over the technique and material and along the way discover challenges that motivate you continue pursuing ceramics.