Collect 2026

EBONY RUSSELL
b. Australia

Ebony Russell is an Australian ceramic artist who uses an unorthodox approach to construct ceramic sculptures. Her unique technique was developed out of an interest in gendered aesthetics, labour and traditional craft practices where Russell methodically pipes porcelain in series of intricate layers to build gravity- defying forms. Challenging the traditional making processes of decorative vessels; in her works the decoration becomes the structure, and the boundaries between the two are erased. Exploring established perceptions of cultural and artistic practices that were once exclusively coded as feminine and thus insignificant, Russell’s work celebrates the decorative, promiscuous aesthetics and politics of purity; the superficial, excess and delight – with pleasure.

Russell completed a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Honours) at Monash University in 2003 and in 2019 graduated from The National Art School Sydney with a Masters of Fine Art. Russell has won many awards including the Franz International Rising Star Award in 2018 and the Meroogal Women’s Art Prize in 2023. Major exhibitions include ‘Think Pinker’, Gavlak Gallery Los Angeles (2023), ‘SABOTAJE ESTEìTICO’, Yusto Giner Gallery, Spain (2022), ‘Halcyon Days’, Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco (2022), ‘Clay Dynasty’, The Powerhouse Museum (2022), ‘Interconnected’, NERAM (2022), Young Masters Art Prize, London (2023), Teetering on the Brink, Claire Oliver Gallery, Harlem New York (2024), and Homo Faber, Venice (2024).

Press:
Ebony Russell Announced as the Winner of Brookfield Properties Craft Award 2025
Ceramic Review Feature: "Piped Dreams"
Artsy’s "5 Artists on Our Radar" – March 2025
Art Mama feature
More Press Highlights

Ebony Russell was Highly Commended for the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize 2023 and winner of the Brookfield Properties Craft Award 2025 in collaboration with Collect Art Fair, Crafts Council and Cynthia Corbett Gallery.

MATT SMITH

b. 1971, Cambridgeshire, UK

Matt Smith is a multi award-winning artist based in Ireland and England. He is well known for his site-specific work in museums, galleries and historic houses. Using clay, textiles and their associated references, he explores how cultural organisations operate using techniques of institutional critique and artist intervention. Smith is interested in how history is a constantly selected and refined narrative that presents itself as a fixed and accurate account of the past and how, through taking objects and repurposing them in new situations, this can be brought to light. Of particular interest to him is how museums can be reframed into alternative perspectives.

Matt J Smith is best known for his work with museums and collections. He recontextualises museum collections to consider overlooked or erased narratives, often incorporating LGBTQ+ histories and legacies of colonisation. Solo exhibitions include Losing Venus at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Flux: Parian Unpacked at the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge (UK), Who Owns History at Hove Museum and Queering he Museum at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham Art Gallery (UK) and the Victoria and Albert Museum London (UK). Notable group shows have included Dublin Castle (Ireland), Gustavsberg Konsthall, Stockholm (Sweden) and the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (Ireland). In 2015/16 he was artist in residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He holds a PhD from the University of Brighton and was Professor at Konstfack University, Stockholm.

In 2020 he was awarded the Brookfield Prize at Collect and the Contemporary Art Society acquired a body of his work for Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. His work is also held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, National Museum of Scotland, National Museum of Northern Ireland and the Crafts Council collection.

Matt Smith is represented internationally by Cynthia Corbett Gallery and was the winner of the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize in 2014.

CAROLYN TRIPP

b. 1962, UK

Carolyn Tripp graduated from Camberwell Collage of arts in 1998 with a degree in ceramics. Whilst raising her family Carolyn taught ceramics within a mental health setting and became lead tutor for Studio 306 Collective an organisation that supports mental health recovery through creativity. In 2018 Carolyn returned to her own practice and currently works out of a studio at Wimbledon Arts Studios in South London.

On first observation Carolyn’s work sits within the blue and white ceramic tradition with the surface pattern and recurring curves, necks and bellies all thrown in porcelain. Up close the jewel like surface reveals the hidden visual diary that she collects. Overheard phrases, lyrics, flowers, patterns and memory, are recorded in photography and drawings, leading to the creation of sheets of story. Printed onto paper and then torn or cut to disguise them (so that she retains ownership and privacy of some very personal memories,) each piece is placed individually onto the surface of the vessel. This creates a new “story” each time, full of refences that may connect with the viewer, so sparking imagination and memory.

In 2020 Carolyn was selected for the Hot House programme with the Crafts Council and she has gone on to show her work in galleries throughout the UK as well as selling work overseas. Her recent exhibitions include The Whitehouse Gallery in Scotland, Future Icons Selects for London Craft Week at Barge House Oxox Tower Wharf, and the Spring Exhibition at the Bevere Gallery. Carolyn has completed several commissions including a series of works for the Norwegian Cruises newest ships Prima, Viva and Aqua and she is also a trustee of Studio 306 Collective. Carolyn was a trustee of London Potters Charity from 2019-2024.

Carolyn Tripp has been selected for the Young Masters 'for the love of art history' open call 2025.

SAERI SEO

b. 1992, Korea

The ‘Moon Jar’ is a representative piece of Korean traditional pottery of the Joseon Dynasty that has contributed the elevating the reputation of Korean ceramics worldwide. Historically, the moon jar was associated only with male roles, as women were not allowed to produce or access the studio due to the belief that they brought bad luck. To overcome a childhood and adolescence coloured by this belief (and accompanying abuse), SaeRi began destroying her works to reveal her trauma, incorporating shapes from Korean representative ceramics as her cultural background influenced her mental struggles. By detonating the beautiful pottery, she stepped forward and started communicating with the world.

SaeRi Seo studied ceramics for her BA at Seoul Women’s University, and went on to complete a Masters in Ceramics and Makers at Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2022. Recent exhibitions and awards include: NAE Open 2023, New Art Exchange (2023), RBA Rising Stars Exhibition, The Royal Over-Seas League (2023), and nominated as a finalist for the BADA Art Award (2022).

SaeRi Seo was selected for Homo Faber 2024: The Journey of Life, coinciding with the Venice Biennale, further establishing her presence in the international art scene. SaeRi Seo made her debut at Collect with Cynthia Corbett Gallery in 2024 and will soon showcase her work at the prestigious British Art Fair later this year, marking another significant milestone in her artistic career.

SaeRi Seo was the winner of the Young Masters Emerging Woman Artist Award in 2023.

MARGO SELBY

b. 1977, Eastbourne, UK

Selby is an artist and designer working with colour and geometric form in textiles. She makes handwoven artworks, and oversees the design work of the Margo Selby Studio for mill production and commercial textiles applications – her tenet being ‘Art Into Industry’ – an approach to making art that is akin to that of the ‘Old Masters’ and mistresses, with their expanded studios and public commissions.

Selby uses thread to create abstract geometric artworks that explore repetition and transition, symmetry and asymmetry, the dynamic and the stable. She is interested in the relationship between the body and the machine, hand and industry, craft and technology. The loom, and the disciplined nature of weaving as a practice, provides boundaries and constraints which can be tested. The orderly nature of the craft of weaving is reflected in the developing designs of the artworks. She is satisfied by rhythmic and uniform repetition – where each element of a composition is changed in a methodical progression.

Margo Selby pursued her studies at Chelsea College of Art & Design and the Royal College of Art in London, with an additional term at the prestigious Atelier National d’Art in Paris. She now teaches across various institutions and runs her own studio, where she leads specialist weaving workshops. In 2020, she was awarded the Crafts Council’s Collect Open Award for her monumental textile installation Vexillum at Somerset House, followed by the esteemed Turner Medal in 2021, recognizing her as “Britain’s Greatest Colourist.” That same year, she delivered the Turner Lecture, offering a personal insight into her creative practice. Her work was featured widely throughout 2022, with appearances at major applied arts and craft fairs including Collect, London Craft Week, and the London Art Fair. In 2023, Selby exhibited at Art Miami, the British Art Fair, and once again at Collect.

Margo Selby is represented internationally by Cynthia Corbett Gallery

FREYA BRAMBLE-CARTER

b. 1991, UK

Freya Bramble-Carter is a London-based ceramic artist, known for creating contemporary designs, often strongly inspired by a balancing flow of femininity and masculinity, with an appreciation for the power of nature and the universe we live in. Freya combines her lifestyle of imagining and working with clay, as well as her life experiences and personal philosophies, into one—changing delusion and enjoyment into a unified expression. She strives to live in the most authentic way true to herself, in order to learn about life and expand.

Freya’s work ranges from fine homewares, including plates and bowls, to large outdoor sculptural pieces and water features for interior or outdoor spaces. Applying her talent to artisan glazes and handcrafting unique silhouettes, Freya's limited-edition pieces are designed to elevate spaces and evoke awe, often through beauty and tactile appeal. Freya’s connectivity to her practice extends to her body of work within international workshops. The practice connects mind, body, and soul, allowing her creative expression to be shared with all.

Freya, a 2013 graduate of Chelsea School of Art, has been represented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery since 2021. Notable exhibitions include Collect 2022–2024, Art Miami debut 2022, "Body Vessel Clay" curated by Dr. Jareh Das, and "Like Paradise" at Claridge's, curated by Ekow Eshun. In 2023, Freya was featured on Alexa's Art Tour with British Vogue, where she and Alexa Chung delved into discussions about change and artistic expression during an insightful interview held in Freya's studio. Earlier in 2024, Freya was one of six London-based artists featured in the Uniqlo & JW Anderson Spring/Summer 2024 collection, celebrating its rich historical context.

Freya’s collaborative work with her father, renowned ceramicist Chris Bramble, explores intergenerational creativity, identity, and heritage through clay. One of their joint pieces was recently acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, marking a significant milestone in both their practices and celebrating the power of family legacy in contemporary ceramics.

Freya Bramble-Carter is represented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery.

CLAUDETTE FORBES

b. 1963, UK

Claudette Forbes is an award winning ceramicist. Her work is deeply rooted in her experiences as the child of Jamaican parents growing up in inner-city Bristol. As a teenager the race riots in her neighbourhood in 1980 made a lasting impression on her. Her curiosity about the government's attempts to fix things led to her pursuing her first career tackling inner city deprivation. These experiences now inspire her art. She often gathers her ideas by observing scenes in her adopted neighbourhood of Peckham, London. She seeks to test interpretations of the present day whilst producing tangible objects that contain a certain beauty and references the past.

She adorns her work with her illustrations which are a contemporary twist on the traditional blue and white willow pattern. She describes her work as provocative and humorous.

Her ‘Poor Cow’ collection, featuring fashion & fast food branded cows and illustrated milk bottles, was inspired by a family trip to Jamaica. Montego Bay’s first McDonald’s restaurant had just opened. Next to it was a field with a solitary cow in it, a scene which she found hilarious. The collection has won many plaudits. The ’Banksy Thieves, Rye Lane, Peckham, London’ is the latest addition to her 'Poor Cow' collection. Forbes has been selected as Showcase Award winner for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, won 2nd place prize at Brixton Art Prize, and Selected for New Ashgate Gallery Rising Stars.

Claudette Forbes has been selected for the Young Masters 'for the love of art history' open call 2025.

AMY HUGHES

b. 1985, Dewsbury, UK.

“Amy Jayne Hughes reinterprets historical vase designs while nodding at the original aesthetic yet leaving space for the clay."

Amy Jayne Hughes is a Ceramicist, a clay purist and enthusiast. She adores working with her medium and the possibilities that it allows. Primarily a hand builder in her practice, Hughes enjoys combining traditional making techniques and exploring form and decoration and establishing dialogues between the two. Working with an awareness of clay, she feels it is important to leave traces of material identity on a piece to celebrate the uniqueness of it and the wonderfully idiosyncratic ways in which it behaves, highlighting and drawing attention to rather than covering over. This allows for brushstrokes and dribbles of slip, raw cut and torn edges, exposed joints and considered application of glaze.

Taking inspiration from historically significant ceramic objects and collections, Hughes strives to reference the originals whilst reinterpreting and reinventing, to make them more accessible and breathe a fresh life into them. Working with a cultural awareness, Hughes seeks to take such pieces to new audiences and find a place in contemporary culture for them. Sources for her recent ceramic explorations include Grecian, Islamic and 18th century French Porcelain.

Hughes loves to draw and her collections often involve exploring different methods of interpreting her drawings into clay. Most recently, taking a collage-like approach, Hughes uses enlarged elements of her sketches, tracing them directly onto her clay surfaces in decorating slip and attaching them onto her coil and slab-built forms, creating exciting patterns and shapes and working with a colourful and lively painterly approach. The making process informs the composition, not knowing how the final piece may look.

Amy Jayne Hughes studied MA Ceramics & Glass at Royal College of Art, London, 2008-2010 and BA Ceramics at Loughborough University, 2004-2007. She also won the City and Guilds Life Drawing Award. Notable solo exhibitions include: ‘Garniture’ Croome Court, Worcester, Arts Council England funded (2018), and ‘Vase & Cover’ Room 141, V&A Museum, London Design Festival (2018). Hughes’ notable group exhibitions include: Art Miami, Cynthia Corbett Gallery (2022-23), COLLECT, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, Somerset House (2021-23), British Art Fair, Cynthia Corbett Gallery (2022-23), London Art Fair, Cynthia Corbett Gallery (2022), ‘Piranesi 300: A Visionary Revisited’ Dublin Castle & the Casino at Marino, Dublin (2022), ‘Leach 100’ The Leach Pottery, St Ives (2022), ‘Artefact’, Vessel Gallery (2021), ‘Out Of the Blue’ 50 Years of Designers Guild, The Fashion and Textile Museum, London (2020), COLLECT, Vessel Gallery (2019), ‘Renewed Past’ CODA Museum, Netherlands (2016), ‘AWARD’, British Ceramics Biennial (2015), and 'SWEET 18’, Castle of Hingene, Belgium (2015).

Hughes’ work has been acquired internationally. Collections include: Hendelsbanken, Sweden (2011), ‘Tryst’, V&A permanent collection (2016), and Private Collections in USA, UK, France, Sweden, and Netherlands.

Amy Hughes was a finalist for the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize in 2014 and is internationally represented by the Cythia Corbett Gallery. She was highly commended for the Brookfield Properties Craft Award 2023.

JEMMA GOWLAND

b. 1965, UK

Jemma Gowland’s work explores the way that girls are constrained from birth to conform to an appearance and code of behavior, to present a perfect face, and maintain the expectations of others. The use of porcelain, or of stoneware with layered disrupted surfaces, denote value yet describe the vulnerability beneath. Her most recent work draws on the traditional history of the figurine, from Meissen to the present; echoing the white unglazed finish with gold lustre. Current themes build on this tradition, with its symbolism of the female figure as ornament and object, to highlight issues of growing up female in the modern world. View a Catalogue of the new work.

Jemma Gowland trained for a BSc in Engineering Product Design, working in industrial design and architectural model making before becoming a teacher of Design and Technology, a career she followed for many years. Ceramics became first a hobby, and then a full-time occupation after leaving teaching in 2014. Her deepening interest in the immense possibilities of ceramics as a material led to further study, culminating in the City Lit Ceramics Diploma, London, graduating in 2019. Awards and exhibitions include: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2023), Royal Cambrian Academy of Art Open Exhibition (2023), Collect Open (2022), Bevere Graduate Award (2019-20), and Potclays student award, Art in Clay (2019). In 2024, Jemma’s work was featured in the Newstead Project, celebrating the Byron bicentenary at his home, Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire. That same year, she made her debut at Collect with the Cynthia Corbett Gallery and is set to showcase her work at the prestigious British Art Fair, marking another major milestone in her artistic career.

Jemma Gowland was Highly Commended for the Young Masters Emerging Woman Artist Award in 2023.