About Clevedon Clay
Clevedon Clay is a ceramics business run by Nicola Comrie in the small town of Clevedon on the Severn Estuary in Somerset. Working from her home studio Nic specialises in Botanical Imprints in earthenware clay.
Originally a keen painter, and having completed a BA Hons in Art History and Conservation at Camberwell School of Arts in London, Nic initially began using clay as a hobby, then after teaching pottery at a summer camp in USA she returned to London to undertake a year of City and Guilds in Ceramics.
Fast forward a few years (!) and experiments with clay and different leaves and flowers - and like many potters a fair share of trial and error Nic now produces a wide range of pieces of functional
ceramics, featuring a diverse range of plants and flowers, imprinted then hand painted in earthenware clay.
The botanicals are allowed to fall naturally onto the clay where their imprints are captured by roiling them into the wet slab of rolled white earthenware. The templates used to cut out the forms
are painstakingly made into functional ceramics, predominantly vases and bowls.
Each piece of work is meticulously hand painted with ceramic underglazes as close to the colours of nature, then after the first firing they are refired with a clear glaze, making them water tight and food safe.
As the flowers are sourced throughout the year Nic's work features a display of the changing gardens and hedgerows of the Somerset countryside, from the tiny snowdrops of spring, the
delicate buttercups of summer to the robust holly of winter.