Louise M Ceramics was born by a chance lecture scheduling change. What began as a desire to be a furniture designer turned very quickly into a passion for clay and curious play.
We are incredibly grateful for Louise's playful, exploration of the world through her ceramics. Her stunning pieces, hand crafted in Marrickville, Sydney, grace our tables and bring life and beauty to all who hold them in their hands.
We are truly obsessed with all of Louise's gorgeous pieces and have been lucky enough for her to have taken some time out of creating to share her journey with us all.
We love what you do. What inspired you to enter the world of ceramics?
Well thank you for saying that! I've been making ceramics as part of my business LouiseM studio for 15 years now and I know I've come a long way, really developing my craft over that time. Something like my flora range for example, if you were to look at some of it's first incarnations, it would look wildly different to what we make today, but there was a spark of an idea in there that was developed over time.
I've always had an interest in getting creative but I only got serious about ceramics when I went to university. Studying a fairly broadly-defined design degree, we were asked to choose three seperate areas to focus on, and being dead certain that I wanted to be a furniture designer left me with one area spare. I chose ceramics because it was on a Monday and meant I'd only have to go in to campus 3 days a week instead of 4! It didn't take long for me to fall in love with ceramics, and that's fortunate because I was a pretty average furniture designer. I'm so grateful to my tutors for introducing me to slip-casting, because I think without that I would have gone down a different path entirely.
What is your favourite thing about what you do?
There are so many things. Lots of little moments in the studio that are flashes of joy to my day, like opening the kiln and seeing what's inside or revealing the pattern on a marbled cup as it comes out of the mould. But in a more over-arching way, knowing that I use my hands every day to make my living, and that I have these very tangible outcomes, gives an immense sense of satisfaction. Obviously there's all the other aspects involved in running a business, and I gladly do them, but it all feels like it's in support of the real work, which is what happens in the studio where we make.
Who or what do you draw inspiration for your range from?
Most of my ranges of work have been initially developed through play and experimentation. I've done my design degree and learnt how to take a project from concept to manufacture, but when you're talking about inspiration, that feels like a different process to what you'd think of as the design process. I've thought for a long time that you're at your most creative when you're in a state of play, feeling relaxed and not worried about mistakes or sales targets or anything like that. When I allow myself to be playful with materials and processes, testing things out and making mistakes, pushing possibilities, it gives me so much, in terms of inspiration and of learning about my materials. You can take things from that part of the process, and then put your designer hat on and figure out what to do with that information. That's what I love about design, it's this mixture of intangible creativity and robustly practical problem-solving. I wouldn't say I have one thing I do or one place I go to to help spark that inspiration, I just try to be a person in the world who notices things and then I let it all percolate in the back of my brain until it's ready to come out.
We are so proud to be supporting Australian artisans like yourself. Who are some of your favourite artisan producers in Australia and why?
Again, so many. Almost the entire time I've been making ceramics, I've also been selling them at markets, and I've gotten to know a lot of other artisan producers and their amazing outputs.
Firstly, I have to mention Pepe Saya because I've been working with them 12 years making their butter keepers and on top of that their butter is THE BEST. They have this amazing commitment to Australian produce and working with other Australian businesses and I'm so pleased to see how they've grown. We've also done some pieces for Women's Work who make delicious relishes and who love partnering with and supporting other female-led businesses. Lastly I'll say Evyie because I love all the clothing that she makes, she's got a great eye for pieces that are stylish and modern without closely following trends, just simple and thoughtful, and she does it all herself.
We are passionate about giving inspired and delicious gifts with meaning. Do you have a secret present giving weapon that always makes you the gift giving winner with family and friends that you can share with us?
After so many years making ceramics, I feel like I've gifted just about everything that we make to someone I know at some point! I absolutely agree that gifts should be thoughtful and made with purpose, particularly when it comes to ceramics. I'm actually a big fan of gifting consumables because I feel that a nice soap, butter or chutney, or even a bunch of flowers is always appreciated. That being said, you can always pair that nice soap with one of my soap dishes, a butter with a butter keeper, a chutney with a long platter and and a dip bowl, or the flowers with a vase!
Explore our collection of Louise M Ceramics in store and online here.
Louise is constantly playing and creating something gorgeous. Learn more by visiting her at LouiseMStudio and tell us what your favourite pieces are.
