The Studio Sessions with Brutes Ceramics
On brutalism, bold colour, and the courage to step out of your comfort zone
Emma has been stocking with us for five years, and Brutes has always had one of the most distinctive visual identities on our shelves. Clean forms, raw exteriors, bold colour. A borderline obsession with brutalist design worked through in clay. The kind of work that looks like no one else’s.
So when a new collection arrived that was figurative, playful, patchworked and portraiture-led, we wanted to know what had happened. The answer, it turns out, is exactly what you’d hope: a maker who knows her own aesthetic so well that she felt confident enough to push against it.
In that time Emma has moved to South London, had Hero, and set up a new studio closer to home. We sat down to talk about all of it.
F | You came to ceramics as a deliberate antidote to screen time, a way of making something real with your hands. For anyone who doesn’t know that part of the story, can you tell us a bit about how it began and where it took you?
E | I worked as a magazine editor for a long time, and playing with clay at Hackney City Farm in the evenings was just a satisfying hobby to begin with. I gradually started taking on the odd order here and there and eventually had enough work coming in to take the leap from hobby to job.
F | In 2016 you co-founded Clay Collective in Hackney, a co-operatively run studio. What made you want to build something like that?
E | Clay Collective was born pretty seamlessly, out of our desire as a group of friends to create a space to continue learning, and share skills and ideas, at our own pace and without restriction. We eventually launched the studio as a group of twelve makers, and worked together to fund all the necessary equipment, wheels, kilns, through running workshops. As a group we’ve been lucky enough to be offered some amazing on-site projects at places like Tate Modern and Somerset House.
F | Brutes has always had a strong visual identity, brutalist architecture, bold colour, clean form. Where did that aesthetic come from and how has it developed over the years?
E | I just have a borderline obsession with brutalist design in all its forms. Clay just happened to be the medium that I could explore its themes through.
F | The new collection feels like a step in a new direction, stylised portraits, patchwork patterns, something more playful and figurative. What opened that door?
E | I’d say my work is quite stripped back and minimal, it’s an aesthetic I’m most comfortable with. The new collection came from a desire to push myself out of my comfort zone, while still retaining an element of the design aesthetic that excites me.
F | Portraits are an interesting choice for ceramics. A face on a functional object is quite an intimate thing. How did you approach that, and whose faces are these?
E | I wanted to find a way to create characterful sketches in clay, which is where the portraits come in. I make them by tearing out little scraps of clay and using a sharp pencil-like tool to scratch out little faces, each with its own expression. These faces are then rolled into the surface of the clay body, like collages. It felt like craft on craft, a way of combining drawing with ceramics.
F | Until recently, your work had always kept the exterior of the clay bare, letting the texture speak for itself. Has the new collection changed your relationship with the surface at all, or does that principle still hold?
E | I think the principle remains the same for me, which is to combine two opposing elements to create a striking impact. With my original pieces it’s about the contrast between textured exterior and smooth interior, whereas the new collection contrasts the hand-drawn elements with a minimal, glossy finish.
F | Is there a piece in this new collection you’re most attached to, or that surprised you most in the making?
E | I loved how the Patchwork Platter came out. I wanted it to look like an old-fashioned patchwork quilt, yet also somehow modern and slick. I also just love this particular combination of colours.
F | What’s the best thing anyone has ever said to you about one of your pieces?
E | It’s a cliche, but hearing that one of your pieces is someone’s most used daily item is the ultimate compliment.
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A patchwork quilt that is somehow modern and slick. Tiny clay faces, each with their own expression, rolled into the surface like collages. Two opposing elements combined for striking impact. Emma’s work has always operated on its own terms and this new collection is no different. It is just braver. We are so glad it found its way to our shelves.