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Shoreline, designing with collage

In 2019 I used collage to design a new range of ceramics  with a restrained, neutral palette inspired by watching seabirds during walks on the long, dune-flanked beaches of North Norfolk.

In 2019 I started work on a new range of shapes and designs for ECP Design. I am not a potter, so I enlisted the help of a potter I knew would immediately understand the shapes I wanted.

I wanted a glaze that resembled the putty’ish shade of old stoneware potion pots – not grey, not cream – and to include very subtle throw lines. Watching him turn the shapes on the wheel, allowing me to say ‘out a bit more’ or ‘take a little more off’ was very exciting even as I froze in his unheated studio in March. Actually, I think my favourite images are those of the freshly-thrown shapes resting on the stone bench in his studio. Of course, these were all protoypes: the production was going to happen in Poland, which is where the sample pieces shown here were created. 

I designed the seabirds using collaged remnants of antique watercolour paintings found, rolled up at the back of a dealer’s van. They were some of the worst amateur paintings ever, but treasure for collage. I could have explained but decided to let him carry on thinking that I had very bad taste in art. Until working on Shoreline, all my design work had been done with appliqué and embroidery which had been interpreted with wonderful hand-painting by Vanessa Knight and her team at English Country Pottery, run by John Collett, in England.  Shoreline was going to be transfer ware, which means painted artwork, like the beautiful paintings by the late Lizzie Sanders of my needlework for the ranges of bone china I designed with William Edwards, which I will write about in another post.

It is unfortunate  that the combination of the pandemic and Brexit halted production of my ceramics. I receive a lot of emails from  people desperate to replace pieces and am thinking of setting up a message board page on Instagram for them in case there are others who might keen to sell all or part of their collection. 

Shoreline was nonetheless one of the most enjoyable design experiences and I hope one day to work again with ceramics.

Hover over the images to read the captions, click to enlarge, or double-click for full screen.

PLEASE NOTE

Update for ALL customers

27 October 2025

I am delighted to announce that we are now able to ship to the US, duty paid and, for the time being, I will absorb the duty.
 

Issue 26 of The Stitcher’s Journal has now been despatched to all overseas subscribers and you should shortly be receiving emails from Royal Mail confirming this, with a tracking number. 

The website has had to be reconfigured so that shipping is no longer included in the prices, but is rather a flat rate, set for whichever country we are sending  to — including the UK — and will be shown at the checkout.  I have of course reduced the kit prices, which used to include shipping, but I have also taken this opportunity to review my prices which have not increased to reflect the considerable increase in costs since February 2022. All in all, I think the results are fair, especially as in carrying out this exercise I realise I have been heavily subsidising the actual postage costs for the past three years.
 
Unfortunately, we are not currently able to take advantage of the Large Letter Rate for shipping to the US, but on a positive note (!)  all orders are now tracked and the flat rate has a greater weight allowance.
 
I will be adding some new kits, bundles and vintage finds and fabrics to the site today, Monday 27th October and through the week, and I really hope things will run smoothly now. 
 
Thank you so much for your support and patience, it means more than I can say.
 
With very best wishes,

Caroline