How has your past as a designer and cutter in fashion influenced your current ceramic work? 

My years as a pattern cutter have certainly informed my ceramics, I see things in 3D, which makes it easier to achieve unusual shapes. I make paper patterns for my bottles, instinctively knowing which angle will give the correct amount of lean. The exposure to all the fabric patterns has definitely crept into my subconscious and informs the patterns that I create.

Leaning Bottle 2022

On average how many cuts would you make to achieve a final piece?

My patterns through the clay are sometimes very complex, often made up of left over bits of pattern from previous pieces, which already consist of innumerable cuts, so it is difficult to give a precise answer. I have just made a couple of “loaves” of pattern, using the cut offs from two previous pieces, incorporating them with white clay. This will make one medium sized piece, it has taken me two days to make the patterned loaves. These will rest for a few days, I will then take slices from the loaves and patch them together into a press mould. I would guess that there have been hundreds, maybe thousands of cuts made to achieve these smallish loaves.

Sculptural Bowl, 2022

“My ceramics explore the multi layered effects nature creates via the laying down of strata, weathering and erosion” discuss.

I’m fascinated by the geometry in nature, especially as growth and random chaotic forces skew and distort the initial perfect symmetry. I’m constantly exploring these balances between symmetry and asymmetry, perfection and imperfection in my work.

Oval Coracle 2025

Where do you get your clay?

I get my clay from various suppliers in the UK

How do you colour the clay?

Up until quite recently, I used mainly oxides to colour my clay, as I prefer the slightly softer, earthier colours that oxides give. In the last few years I have started to use stains as well, in fact I have a box of different coloured stains which have sat on my shelf for a year, and which I’m looking forward to experimenting with, but somehow I never seem to find the time. 

By now, do you have set formulars for each colour?

I’m not very scientific in my approach to colouring. I don’t make test tiles and as I don’t use a wide variety of colours, the outcomes are fairly predictable. Occasionally there are serendipitous surprises which can’t be replicated, as well as not such happy outcomes, but these are not common. This approach guarantees that no two pieces are ever the same.

Floating Bowl 2022

Can you expand on how you smoke-fire your work and the restrictions?

I fast smoke-fire with crumpled up newspaper in a metal dustbin with holes punched in the sides around the bottom of the bin. I used to do a slower process in a brick structure with sawdust, but the thermal shock was greater and I would lose pieces through cracking and often the effects of the smoke would be too dark and mask the Nerikomi pattern. I have learnt over the years how to prevent too much smoke from affecting the work, but one never knows what the end result will be. If a piece comes out too dark, I pyrolize it in my self-cleaning oven which goes up to 600C and will usually be left with “ghost” marks from the smoke.

Small Head Bowl 2022

What is the meaning of Nerikouri?

Nerikomi is a Japanese word which I understand to mean the layering, cutting and merging of different coloured clays and generally refers to hand built as opposed to wheel thrown work.

Oval Form 2025

Why is repetition such a large part of your work?

I’m drawn to primitive mark making, which often consists of repetitive patterns. Repetition occurs throughout the natural world as well, in sea shells, tree bark, flora and fauna, the list is endless. My emphasis is on irregular repetition, my work embraces abstraction and asymmetry while still referencing the geometric.

Sculptural Bowl 2023

How do you manage to achieve, in your work the effect of stitches holding the strips together?

This was a happy accident. Usually one would score a join running with the join, or in cross-hatching, but on one occasion I scored across the join. The score marks became visible once the pattern was scraped back. When I started out, I was always trying to mask the joins, now I celebrate the joins, emphasising them with deeper score marks.

Tilted Bowl 2024

Can we fully understand your technique by watching your video ‘Nerikoni Porcelain Bottles’

Discuss the shapes you make your bowls in. 

I have made several moulds inspired by milliner’s hat blocks in various sizes, one a head shape, the other a beret. I also am drawn to semi spherical shapes which I sometimes alter and distort. Another favourite is a tilted bowl shape which was inspired by a wooden bowl made by an African artist.

Head Bowl 2024

Are all your ceramics fully water tight?

None of them are water tight, they are purely decorative. For the smoke-firing to have an effect, some porosity is necessary, so although they are porcelain, they are only fired to 1060C

Are your works made in singles and placed together or are some sold in groups?

They are made in singles, although a pattern might be a theme through several pieces, having been made from a large loaf of patterned clay.

Large Oval Form 2022/2023

Take two of your sculptural pieces and discuss both works?

Asymmetric Form 2022/2023

This piece resulted from two failed attempts to make a large wall piece. After the first attempt cracked, I reclaimed the pattern and tried again. When this also failed I decided to give up on the wall piece and as it was now a large loaf of reclaimed pattern I embraced the challenge to make a large sculptural piece. This stands 22.5cm tall, by 28×34.5cm and is one of my larger pieces. The base started in a slump mould and the sides were slab built onto the base using slices from the loaf. I started without a clear idea, allowing the slices of pattern to dictate to a certain degree the final outcome. I like to explore the line between order and chaos and the juxtaposition between control and spontaneity in my sculptural pieces.

Rhomboid Sculptural Form 2024

This piece was also the result of a piece going wrong and the pattern being reclaimed and was built in the same way as the previous piece. It is smaller and its dimensions are H.14 x W.28 x D.26cm

Do you take commissions?

I have taken on some commissions, but I prefer to work on things I want to make.

Take on piece that has given you delight and why?

This piece illustrates my unscientific approach to colours. I had made a large loaf of pattern from reclaimed bits and pieces of left over pattern and marbled together scrapings from previous work (each piece generates a take-out food container’s worth of scrapings) The loaf before firing looked as if the end results would be a mixture of greys and browns as you can see below I was delighted when I opened the kiln to see all the subtle and glorious blues.

I was further delighted when the gallery passed on to me a letter the customer in China had sent them on receiving the bowl. They said they had cried on opening the package, because it was so much more beautiful than they had expected it to be.

Contact:

Barbara Gittings

Website: https://www.barbaragittingsceramics.com

Email: barbaragittingsceramics@gmail.com

Deborah Blakeley, Melbourne, Australia

Interview by Deborah Blakeley, June 2025

Images on these pages are all rights reserved by Barbara Gittings