A reflection on how roles take shape over time at Sunken Studio, told through Milly’s development and the studio’s learning around responsibility, trust, and letting go.
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Nova Smith has been part of Sunken Studio since 2019, contributing not just to teaching and making, but to the practical decisions that shape how the studio works. This post reflects on mould making, studio constraints, and how low-tech, repeatable processes can support sustainable practice across disciplines.
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Rebecca Catterall, founder and director of Sunken Studio, reflects:
“Looking back, the moments when learning genuinely changed how I work all shared one thing: each involved being told to stop.
Stop doing what already worked. Stop relying on familiar habits. Stop long enough to work out why.”
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Sunken Studio was founded on the need for a place in Leeds where people could make, connect, and belong. Rebecca Catterall wanted to create an environment where others could do the same, without the barriers that often make ceramics feel out of reach. Nearly a decade on, those founding ideas remain central. Sunken Studio continues to support independence, provide access to essential resources, and offer a space where making is valued as much for the process as for the outcome.
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A reflection on Standard Ware as a period of sustained making, revealing what production asks of a teaching-led ceramic studio.
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Using a small, carefully timed production run to support a local charity, while exploring glaze development, rhythm, and care during a period of pressure.
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A large-scale restaurant commission developed during lockdown, revealing both the possibilities and pressures of production, collaboration, and specialist skill.
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How Standard Ware emerged from a desire to support learning, test production, and understand where making and teaching meet - and where they begin to diverge.
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How early Hey Clay! projects - including a workshop at Duke Studios and the studio’s first open day - shaped shared making, collaboration, and ways of working during a period of transition.
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How the studio’s earliest moves - from a home basement to temporary space - shaped ways of working, collaboration, and scale.
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Thoughts on decision-making, responsibility, and the slow work of shaping a studio that can adapt over time.
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What a temporary studio space made possible - from shared making to flexible ways of working.
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