About Sue Ure
Sue Ure’s work is an entirely hand-thrown. The skills acquired over decades are applied at every stage of the making process: from turning and handling to glazing and firing. I develop my own glazes and slips and new glazes are always an area of ongoing research.
I have created bespoke collections for clients such as Tate Enterprises, The Royal Academy shop and for the William Morris Gallery. Bespoke collections for professional and private clients are frequently the impetus inspiring new directions; the William Morris Commission inspired a new sgraffito-decorated range of tableware.
My work is informed by the minimalism of postwar ‘mid-century’ design as well as northern European design, from Bauhaus to Arabia.
My aim is to produce stylish and enduring design with comfortable functionality.
Making ceramics is a way of life as well as a craft – it’s been my life for the last forty-odd years.
Perhaps more than many other crafts, it dictates your timetable. When a piece is ready for turning (trimming), you can try and maintain it at that point of readiness for only so long – once it’s got too dry, you aren’t going to be able to continue the process as it should be done. This imperative of dealing with the work at the right moment in time affects many of the processes involved and involves endless late-night checks to wrap (or unwrap!) the work in order that it should be at optimum readiness for the next working day….
However, the satisfaction gained from producing a visually pleasing and well- functioning piece is what keeps us making – and continually striving to do it with more finesse or imagination – or both!
In the 1990s I moved from my native London to sunnier south-western France, a move which impacted strongly on my appreciation of colour – and has been my home ever since.