Meet The Artisan | Sue Pryke

An interview with Vaunt Design Magazine

In the first of our new 'Meet The Artisan' series, we sat down for a quick natter with Sue Pryke. Sue has been handcrafting ceramics since the mid-80s, honing her craft in rural Lincolnshire in preparation for today, where she runs her online boutique - suepryke.com. Sue now enjoys a large following of customers and fans who appreciate her high-quality craftsmanship and impeccable design. We sat down for a quick chat to delve a little deeper into the life and mind of Sue Pryke - enjoy. 

Q) You’ve been crafting ceramics since the mid-80's. What is it about ceramics that has held your interest and allowed such longevity in the industry?

A) I went into ceramics by chance. I hadn’t given pottery much consideration before stepping onto an A-level pottery course. I’d been to craft fairs with my mum, ‘Art in Action’ was particularly memorable, great atmosphere & so interesting to see how things were made.

Ceramics is so versatile & the most rudimentary of crafts. The oldest pottery shards are made of clay from 20,000 years ago! You can dig a lump of clay and form it into a basic vessel to hold water or cook in, but it also has high tensile strength and fragility in other applications, think thermal protection for space shuttles and a translucent bone china teacup. 

In craft terms, it’s so diverse too and can be moulded or shaped into endless expressions & statements. 
I started working with clay as a thrower & have explored several pathways but ended up at the other end of the craft spectrum in a more industrial application. I enjoy the repetition of slipcasting - I also favoured this with production throwing!