Welcome

Topsy Jewell Pottery

Photo at Lewes Artists and Makers 2023 by @maxinesilverphotography

I am taking orders

If you would like to purchase any of my pots or make an order please get in contact. I make my pots in small batches and although I have many items in stock, I may not have all my designs and colours available. Orders and commissions may take 4 to 8 weeks to complete.

A selection of my pots can be viewed in the shops and galleries listed on the stockist page or you can visit my workshop in Lewes, East Sussex, call or email to make an appointment.

I design and make hand-thrown tableware from stoneware clay. The pots are finished using a variety of glazes and decoration techniques. The vessels can be used in the oven and washed in a dishwasher. I have been potting since 1998, trained by Mohamed Hamid, at the Star Pottery.

Follow me on instagram @topsyjewell

Becoming a potter has been a process unfolding over my life. Beginning with rifling through the seconds box at the Leach Pottery in the seventies and following my dad’s love of studio pots, I learned to hand build at classes after leaving school.  After an intense and hectic job with Greenpeace International and three small children, I discovered throwing on a wheel at evening classes in my mid thirties. I was captivated by the transformation of wet stoneware clay into a glasslike, waterproof vessel and the many subtle colour changes caused by metal oxides reacting with glaze ingredients.  I became preoccupied with simplicity and beauty in shape and colours - and the comfort of holding or looking at a functional object made by hand. I love cups. I study their handles, their shape, their feel in my hands and against my lips. I buy other potters’ cups to try out, test and inspire me. I feel proud and honoured when someone tells me that one of my cups is their favourite and they drink out of it every day.

In 2019, my friend Jon Seal suggested filming the process of making a cup, the result is below with music written and played by guitar maker Cameron Mobbs who luckily was in the studio next to mine.