Minnie-Mae Studio

I am based in the Kent seaside town of Margate, creating and producing ceramics, printed textiles and interior decoration.

British seaside landscapes, the history of London, Greek mythology, Italian kitsch decoration, East end markets and British vegetable growing culture inspire and inform my imagery and exploration of design, resulting in a healthy obsession with columns, peas and seashells. My hand-crafted ceramics are objects of empowerment, designed to evoke nostalgia and strength, whilst focusing on classical design.

My childhood was spent growing up in Hackney, East London, where I was born in the late 1980s. Both my mother and grandmother (seamstresses and set designers) played an instrumental role in encouraging my interests and developments within the world of arts and culture. My grandmother was a queen magpie, master corset maker for Sands films, and keen ceramic collector, scouring junk shops, markets and fairs for British studio pieces; her house was packed full of visual delights to digest.

The family were always involved in community arts, with a range of art facilities always within reach. The wealth of cultural influences flourishing in Hackney during the 1990s built the foundations of my desire to explore and understand other cultures and their expression through visual art.

After graduating from Loughborough in 2011 studying Printed Textiles, I worked as studio manager for Cressida Bell, granddaughter of the Bloomsbury group’s Vanessa Bell. Working in a small studio for a number of years was a brilliant platform for growth, learning and mastering my own design skills.

I then went on to open an art gallery, wine shop & restaurant in Margate: Urchin Wines, that I co-directed with my partner Orson.

After the birth of our son Vincent, I decided to revisit my love of design and began to attend the drop-in classes at Clayspace. I found my calling and instantly began to spend all my waking hours there. I’ve not stopped since and most of my time is usually spent creating handmade ceramic pieces from inspiration and explorations.

“As a tiny child Minnie-Mae Stott was taken to Hackney’s Ridley Road market. There she was dazzled by the old Eastenders with their watercress bunches, peas and broad beans, the Indian stalls with Alphonso mangoes and okra, and the Jamaican ones with sugar cane and scotch-bonnet chillies. It wasn’t just the delicious food on display but the colours, shapes and patterns that animated her imagination. Now her Margate studio teems with the same bounty, albeit in ceramic form: red radish table decorations, golden peas in a pod, pears painted on to plates. They’re tactile things; you want to touch them and hold them in your hand. For Stott this is all part of a nod to her late grandmother and great-grandmother, with whom she would spend hours podding peas, pulling carrots, picking redcurrants and raspberries, and stirring summer puddings. Done by hand, these acts became a kind of ritual between the women, one continued today in her work. “ WORLD OF INTERIORS by Daisy Dawnay