My name is Marnie Waghorn and I am a potter based in Sheffield.

I make wheel-thrown ceramics which I reduction fire in a wood kiln in the Peak District. I use simple glazes and ash glazes, sometimes with slips and applied oxide brushwork, leaving plenty of surfaces unglazed to allow the ash and flames to make their distinctive marks during the firing.

I discovered clay on my art foundation course at Hereford College of Arts in 2015, an amazing year of play and experimentation in which I rarely left the ceramic studio. Since then I have developed my practice with ever more emphasis on process - making glazes from wild clay and wood ash, and firing pots in a wood kiln are slow techniques but they result in unique pieces that display the idiosyncrasies of the making process.

I strive to marry form with function, creating everyday objects that fulfil their purpose whilst also bringing beauty to the home. My pots often have tactile qualities, such as indentations and textured surfaces to encourage the user to recognise how the clay was manipulated by the hands of the maker and to consider the transformation from soft, malleable clay to hard, vitrified ceramic. 

It is tactile objects and repeat patterns that inspire my work - the pebble you choose to pick up on the shoreline because it fits perfectly in your hand, the soft indent in a bean pod where the bean used to lie, or the circular, repeating patterns of the spines of a pine cone or the pips in an apple core.