‘When the moon is slow’…
The brain-child of cockney creative Lucy Johnston, Tilt Ceramics is born from Lucy’s deep love of texture, shape and form. The foundations of this passion were formed at an early age, with Lucy’s earliest childhood memories of pushing clay through a sieve and playing with blue slip at her mother’s ceramic CityLit course.
Her aesthetic sensibilities, nurtured through growing up in east London, studying at Central St Martins and the University of East Anglia, and cultivated by life as a photographer and art director, have found their home in clay.
Her journey began learning her craft across independent pottery studios in London (Kiln Rooms, Turning Earth, Skandihus) with life then taking her to St Leonards Ceramics studio, then Colchester’s MakerSpace, with courses at Leach Pottery and Casa Julfa inbetween. Now Lucy has settled into her own, making carefully crafted stoneware in South London.
Tilt’s Inspiration
Tilt pieces are distinguished by Lucy’s love of natural form and texture, coupled with her enjoyment of each piece's individuality. Each object is made lovingly with hands that leave their marks on the clay. Making in her native London, Lucy crafts individual pieces inspired by the landscape and elements of the places she’s lived. They are built by memories of the sea and pebbles found on St Leonards beach and recollections of the gorse, bracken and sea birds of the Essex estuary, soundtracked by the punk sensibilities of London.
The distinctive earthy tones and tactile surfaces evoke walks in the Essex woods and textures observed at sandy low tides on the Sussex coast, all made with rebellious hands.
Whether it is emulating the growth lines of an oyster shell or recreating the colour of reeds at dusk, each Tilt Ceramics piece is created to be enjoyed and to feel special in your hands.
The name Tilt is inspired by listening to Scott Walker whilst making wonky pots - her happy place is being noisy and quiet at the same time.
Ceramics (and photography) by Lucy Johnston
Words by EJComms