A Different Way of Living

Not so long ago, we packed up everything we owned, sold the lot, said goodbye to the city, and set off with our two children in search of a different kind of life.

One grounded in nature. One that gives more than it takes.

We didn’t just walk away from our home and careers. We let go of our safety net and poured it into a future we could believe in. Not a future of things, but a way of living. A way of making. A way of being.

That decision brought us to Glen Lochy, where we are building a pottery shaped not just by hand, but by place.

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Our Background

Nicola holds an Honours degree in Ceramics and brings over thirty years of experience to the studio. Her training includes apprenticeships with established potteries, most notably Kylemore Abbey in Connemara, Ireland, and Argyll Pottery in Barcaldine, Scotland. Decades at the wheel have refined her instinct for form, proportion and surface.

Iain qualified with a Higher National Diploma in Electronic Engineering in 1998 and worked with IBM, Brands Electronics and several smaller manufacturers before establishing his own electronics repair business, which he ran for seventeen years. His engineering background now underpins the technical side of the studio: kiln systems, glaze chemistry, materials research and process development.

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Our Practice

Our work sits deliberately at the intersection of craft and engineering.

Nicola shapes the work. Iain refines the materials and systems that make it possible.

Between us, experience and experimentation share the same bench. Traditional ceramic skill meets analytical thinking. Instinct meets chemistry. Form meets process.

Some pieces are functional. Some are exploratory. All are rooted in material integrity and provenance.

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Bringing Pottery to People

Alongside our studio practice, we take pottery directly to people.

Each season we deliver mobile and pop-up workshops across Scotland, bringing wheels to festivals, community events and spaces where access to ceramics can be limited. Between 2,500 and 3,000 people take part in our sessions annually, from complete beginners to those discovering a deeper engagement with clay.

Our work has been exhibited at Made in Stirling and has featured on BBC Alba as part of a festival programme exploring unusual creative experiences.

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Materials & Research

The land is not just inspiration, it is material.

We strongly gravitate toward using locally sourced materials wherever possible, with a sharp focus on ethics, sustainability and provenance.

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Our current work includes:

• Gold hand-panned from nearby burns
• Minerals from wild seams in the hills
• Quartz reclaimed from the gold mine
• Water gathered from rainfall and streams

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Ongoing research includes the development of gold-based lustre techniques and the experimental use of gold mine tailings as a direct silica replacement in clay bodies and glazes, closing material loops while deepening the connection between geology and finished work.

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The Studio

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We are building a sustainable studio in Glen Lochy, designed for long-term resilience and minimal environmental impact.

• Powered by Highland sunlight through rooftop solar
• Heated with an efficient air-source system
• Protected with high-grade insulation
• Designed to operate on carbon-neutral energy

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The foundations are poured. The frame is rising. The kiln is never far from our thoughts.

Every pot that leaves the studio carries a sense of place — shaped by experience, research and the land beneath our feet.