Skip to content
confessions of a design geek confessions of a design geek

Award-winning UK design blog established in 2010 to discover, champion and inspire new designers.

  • Home
  • product
  • furniture
  • features
  • About
  • Contact
confessions of a design geek
confessions of a design geek

Award-winning UK design blog established in 2010 to discover, champion and inspire new designers.

Life drawing influences Samantha McNamara’s Ink ceramics

Katie, September 15, 2016June 16, 2020
This article was published 10 years

design_geek_sammcnamara_01

Comprising a series of thrown clay vessels and dishes, Samantha McNamara’s collection is available in a range of mini coloured clusters in white, blue, violet, green and blush. Each colour-way combines the muted hues with a contrasting band or line, which enables them to work independently or as a collection of pieces, mixing and matching tones to suit.

design_geek_sammcnamara_02

Ink was inspired by a trip to Japan where Samantha worked under the guidance of master potter Kato Hiroshige. Exploring the use of form, function, colour and texture used by the local makers and artists, she started to play with the idea of combining her intuitive approach to life drawing, using a brush and ink, with her ceramics work. She took her fluid and natural way of creating expressive marks on a page, into a new method of manipulating clay.

design_geek_sammcnamara_04

Transferring the line on the page to a line in the clay, the process of dipping and layering the glaze to create this line has been a process she has continued to use in her aesthetic approach ever since. “While I am drawing, I am thinking about making, and while I am making, I am thinking about drawing,” she explains.

Using the importance of function as a starting point, the shape and size of each piece was informed by the process of creating an ink drawing: a water vessel, an ink pot, colour pots and a mixing palette. Samantha then began to view the design process with a new focus – the form and composition of each vessel.

design_geek_sammcnamara_08

“My work is an exploration of the relationship between form and function,” Samantha tells Design Geek. “I throw using a potter’s wheel, and then investigate the quality of the line in the way I use colours and glazes. Ink looks at connections between two processes: throwing in clay and drawing with inks. Both processes are performed intuitively, which allows the ceramic objects to have their own identity as well as a group dialogue. The Ink drawings that accompany these pieces observe the human form from life, depicting colours coming through in the glazes.”

design_geek_sammcnamara_07

She’s the first to admit there isn’t an obvious visual link between her two-dimensional and three-dimensional works, but instead, the connection is more about the intuitive way she approaches her creative endeavours. A sweep of the brush being a similar movement to throwing the clay into its first form. With this in mind, the collection takes on a deeper meaning for Samantha, her expressive nature of working freeing up the creative process from paper to pot and beyond. A recent graduate from the Hereford College of Art, she now creates hand thrown collections of ceramic ware on the wheel, from her studio in Hereford.

design_geek_sammcnamara_05

Samantha McNamara is one of Look Like Love’s ‘One-to Watch’ designers, find out more about her work here

This article was published 10 years
Confessions of a Design Geek look like love Product ceramicsclaydesigndesign graduatedrawinginspirationKate BrewerLook Like Lovemaking processnew designerNew Designersnew talentSamantha McNamara

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Related Posts

Confessions of a Design Geek

interview :: made by michael

August 4, 2015June 16, 2020

This article was published 11 years I discovered Michael Daae Christensen’s work at Northmodern in Copenhagen at the beginning of this year, and then met him in person at the Stockholm Furniture Fair in February. Despite still being a student at Denmark’s TEKO, (part of VIA University College), he has already established…

Read More
Confessions of a Design Geek

St Ives garden shows Barbara Hepworth sculptures as the artist intended

December 16, 2015June 16, 2020

This article was published 11 years Barbara Hepworth, Two Forms (Divided Circle) 1969 , Bronze, 237.5 x 233.7 x 54 cm, Tate, ©Bowness, Photo: ©Tate, Marcus Leith If you missed the Barbara Hepworth retrospective at the Tate Britain, maybe it’s time to head South West and check out her Sculpture…

Read More
Confessions of a Design Geek East London Design Show

out and about :: east london design show

December 23, 2013June 16, 2020

This article was published 13 years The East London Design Show has moved to a new location, the Truman Brewery, and this year, featured a lovely combination of old favourites and new discoveries. The MiniModerns boys were on top form as always. I just love the Whitby print – having…

Read More

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

©2026 confessions of a design geek | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes