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Nel Faulkner studied 3D Design in London, at Chelsea School of Art. She worked in Paris designing shops and furniture for the fashion houses Valentino and Ines de la Fressange, before completing a second degree in Ceramics in her late twenties.
Since then she has developed a distinctive style. Softly thrown shapes, printed patterns, carved additions and a restricted palette of cobalt blue and white all define her work. She has also recently developed a unique "Irish green" glaze. Nel has worked alongside Sandy Brown, and spent time with Betty Woodman in her studio in New York. Their exuberant pieces have had a strong influence on her approach. In 2018 she visited Japan where she found fresh inspiration in the stylised graphic conventions often seen in Japanese art - and the uniquely free, spirited approach the Japanese bring to making with clay. In 2019 she was selected by Paul Smith to exhibit her work in their flagship store on Albemarle Street W1. In 2021 she joined the New Craftsmen Gallery making two collections for their gallery in Mayfair and in 2024 she showed work alongside Grayson Perry with Lyndsay Ingram Gallery at London Original Print Fair. She has recently been awarded artist-in-residence with Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Centre. Nel lives and works in Dorset.
"I make using the prosaic language of ceramics: enriching it and embedding it with vitality. Distorted details and subtle changes to scale can give attitude and buoyancy, even humour. The constituent elements of a piece become pivotal. Handles, lids, feet all have the power of suggestion. Work starts by making these components, making them before I know where they will belong. They evolve without constraints. I knead, press, carve, throw, squeeze looking for connection to the timeless activity of making, often purely in response to a particular method or tool. The body of the piece is considered separately - a softly shaped half remembered form...."
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