Laura Carlin

Laura Carlin is an award winning London based ceramicist and illustrator, whose eye-catching designs and quirky sculptures have developed a cult following in the UK and abroad. Laura’s accolades include winning the Bratislava children’s book illustration awards, the first Brit to hold this title in twenty years. She has won the Quentin Blake Illustration Prize two years in a row whilst studying for her master’s at the Royal College of Art.

Maker's Story

Laura Carlin is an award-winning London based ceramicist and illustrator, whose eye-catching designs and quirky sculptures have developed a cult following in the UK and abroad. Laura’s accolades include winning the Bratislava children’s book illustration awards, the first Brit to hold this title in 20 years. She has won the Quentin Blake Illustration Prize two years in a row whilst studying for her master’s at the Royal College of Art.

THE PROCESS

Laura Carlin’s vessels and decorative pieces are full of surprises. From illustrations of daily life to painterly abstractions, Laura applies her playful aesthetic onto paper, ceramic and even household items, turning the mundane into the whimsical. Her illustrations are hand-painted and then transferred onto ceramic tiles and tableware, using hand made stamps for the tableware and digital transfers for the tiles. When creating her ceramic vessels, Laura employs the method of coiling and hand building and uses a gorged earthenware clay. To bring her illustrations to life on their surfaces, she applies an underglaze using a variety of methods including washes, line work and sgraffito. Following her participation in the Portrait of Place: Holkham Hall project, facilitated by The New Craftsmen, Laura translated her illustrations for the first time into metal to create a bronze mirror. The creative process behind the mirror started with a series of drawings, which she then began to form using Fimo, working in black to try and reduce the pieces down to character and silhouette. Once she was happy, she started to curate the characters around the mirror frame. Laura has collaborated with the Castle Fine Arts bronze foundry to expertly cast individual models and the frame in patinated bronze.