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About

Hello, and thank you for dropping by to Ullswater Ceramics. My name is Helen Thornley and I’m a part-time potter (and part-time tax policy nerd, but probably the least said about that the better.)

A photo of Helen after swimming, in a big purple dry robe with a purple hat in front of a calm, misty grey lake.
The potter thawing out post swim!

I make stoneware and raku ceramics in my studio – a studio which looks suspiciously like a garage – in the Eden Valley. I also spend a day a week at Brougham Hall, in the studios of Interlude Ceramics, where I learned to throw with the amazing Mary Chappelhow.

Since moving to the Lake District in 2005, I have spent a lot of my time in and around Ullswater, or walking around the surrounding hills – so Ullswater Ceramics was the obvious name when I set up my business.

The ever changing colours of the landscape – and particularly the water – inspire my choices of glaze colour and application.