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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 worked alongside Sandy Brown, and spent time with Betty Woodman in her studio in New York. Their exuberant large-scale pieces have had a strong influence on her approach. More recently 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 and in 2021 she joined the New Craftsmen Gallery making two collections for their gallery in Mayfair. 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.
I am in dialogue with my pots, we are companions, we converse. The notion of polite ceramics is rejected. Traditional forms are used as starting points – not to pay homage to them, but to interrogate them and bring them to life through memory and suggestion. Forms can become caricatures, anthropomorphic, ludicrous even, often displaying little relationship with the idea of beauty. Risks must be taken, disrupting and transforming objects with a gutsy, inquisitive touch.”
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