Art - James Mayhew

Home is the secret to success

Award-winning Suffolk author, illustrator and artist, James Mayhew, investigates inspiring art in the region

The first thing that strikes me about Polly Fern’s exquisite ceramics is the elegance. There is charm, even humour, but everything is delicately balanced, with clarity and a seemingly effortless sense of design.

Finely spun figures hold delicate dogs, skilfully drawn with a flick of a brush; leaves and branches entwine around stylish houses, and flowers spill around edges to frame the scenes; rhapsodic birds sit alongside heraldic lions and fleeting squirrels. There is a deceptive simplicity, and an almost folk-art naïvety that combines beautifully with the sometimes sophisticated purposes of her work – ornate vases, decorative plates, richly painted lampshades. There is so much of Polly in these designs, from her adored whippets, who in real life are usually found sleeping under the studio desk, to her fascination with period ceramics, and Georgian homes. Chatting in her garden studio – shelves lined with plain vases and plates awaiting decorations and a kiln in the corner – it’s immediately clear that here is someone who absolutely loves her work. Living in the country, creating ceramics might seem a romantic idyll, but there are many frustrations and disasters along the way. “Because firing ceramics goes wrong so often, you can’t be precious,” explains Polly. Part of the excitement is the possibility of not knowing the outcome. Things may go wrong, but the end result often has its own beauty. Much of her inspiration is drawn from her childhood, growing up in Norfolk, living in old houses with her cabinet-maker father and her mother, who is a gardener. Polly initially specialised in Illustration at Norwich School of Art. But after trying an evening course in ceramics it was love at first sight. “I’ve always been focussed on making as well as drawing and painting – something I find very satisfying. When you are illustrating books it can only really be seen on paper. But I wanted my work to be seen in different areas; in homes, in gardens.” She ended up working in a ceramics studio, learning new skills and techniques. She then began to release small, unique collections through her on-line shop, and placed a few pieces in galleries. A stint with Homes & Antiques magazine, illustrating maps for a monthly column, provided initial income, but Polly always believed she could succeed. “I knew I could, from the first time I sold a painting.” Polly now lives with her partner, Richard, in a lovely Georgian cottage on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. She sees it as a blank canvas for her work. “When I couldn’t find the right wallpaper, I thought: “I’ll just make it!” Polly then taught herself to create repeats for wallpaper and ended up selling the result on her website. She also created her own tiles for a new kitchen. “Artists always have the most interesting homes,” she laughs. I ask Polly a little more about the processes involved, and she shares some sketchbooks. “It’s not just making, decorating, glazing, firing, but also planning,

and developing new ideas.” Vases are first tried out with a card template, then a maquette. When she is happy with the design it will be constructed from clay. Other items like plates are made in a press mould – Polly doesn’t use a wheel – and then decorations like piped slip (liquid clay) are added before the design is painted. Lining the shelves are hundreds of tiny ‘test tiles’, a reference library to record how different colours turn out in the firing process, knowledge only gained through trial and error. Polly also has a particular interest in lustreware, an application that creates a beautiful metallic shine on ceramics. Polly’s success has been remarkable, as her huge Instagram following demonstrates. She has exported collections to Japan, been specially commissioned to create Greek-inspired tiles for the Metropolitan Museum shop in New York, and among her fans are film director Autumn De Wilde and interior designer Cath Kidston. So what’s next for Polly Fern? “I don’t like to plan ahead too much,” she says, although she is currently working hard on pieces for a pop-up shop at the designer store Pentreath & Hall in London a week before Christmas. “I’ve got to fill a whole shop, it’s a lot of work, but it’ll be fun. It’s good to meet real people.”

Polly Fern

It was certainly good, indeed inspirational, to meet Polly – and you can find out more by visiting her website or Instagram. Web: www.pollyfern.com/ Insta: @pollyfern Web: jamesmayhew.co.uk Insta & Twitter: @mrjamesmayhew

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