The Pottery SA12 Story.

Hello!

My name is Sarah and I am the owner of The Pottery SA12. I get asked all the time about how I began working with clay so I thought I would share my story.

I studied in Swansea and gained a BA Hons in Surface Pattern Design. Then moved to Birmingham and completed a Masters in Surface Pattern Design. During my college and university years I had the privilege of working with many materials; metal, wood, textiles and of course clay. I followed my love for creating patterns and specialised in screen printing.

I worked for many years for a retail company in Cardiff as a Ladieswear Designer before taking redundancy and focusing my time on raising my two small children.

In 2017, I decided to find my love for making again but rather than head back into fashion design I wanted to get back into a studio setting and be hands on with the making process. I decided to explore working with clay and learned how to throw. Let’s just say I LOVED IT! The failures and challenges, the focus and immersive nature of working with your hands, just confirmed that I was on the right path.

Alongside my own practice, I also became a Director of a CIC which lead me down the path of teaching and sharing the amazing qualities of working with clay and its powerful effects it can have on your well-being. Building a community of potters and developing high quality teaching programmes for all ages became a passion in itself.

I left my role as Director in 2024 to dedicate more time to my own practice. However, I absolutely love teaching pottery, both throwing and handbuilding so I explored what possibilities were out there beyond the Capital and well…here I am!