Super ceramics! Central Saint Martins at The Sessile

What do fishermen, gravy and the Victoria line have in common? No, not a contrived set-up for an equally tenuous punchline, but some of the unlikely inspiration behind Way of Life’s newly unveiled collaboration with Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London for the launch of The Sessile.

Almost exactly a year ago, we invited 35 students from the BA Ceramic Design course to The Sessile in Tottenham Hale, then freshly kitted out by interior designer Linda Boronkay. Their task? To look under the cushions, so to speak, and leave with a whisper of an idea for a functional tableware collection that future residents would live with and love.

By Christmas, our four experts – Linda herself, interiors journalist Busola Evans, Way of Life brand director Gavin Chetty and course tutor Emma Lacey – would weigh in on a winner, looking for musings on materiality, comfort and ritual in clay. Never mind various pottery-related pitfalls, from tricky firing temperatures to (disaster!) breaking points.

One of only two single honours ceramics courses in the country, the BA Ceramic Design course at Central Saint Martins is an institution within an institution – one where friendly chatter comes easily and there’s probably Northern Soul on the speaker. For the next ten weeks, students shaped, fired and glazed their way through the brief, united under broad themes of belonging and place.

“No matter where you live, or where you’re from, there needs to be a sense of belonging. I think that’s a universal thing that everyone can relate to.”

Busola Evans

“Some of our key values on BA Ceramic Design are around collaboration, community and reciprocation,” explains course tutor Emma Lacey, who has her own thriving ceramics practice. “Working with Way of Life gave our students the opportunity to explore these values in professional and commercial contexts, which will be vital in terms of experience.”

Rich for creative pickings was the craft heritage of Tottenham, once home to a network of potteries originally founded in Edmonton in 1868. Ceramics are, quite literally, part of the fabric of the area; the old potteries even provided broken pots to help drainage systems when Tottenham Hotspur established its first football pitch. So what were the judges looking for? “Imagination,” comes the straight-shoot answer from Busola. “Just something a little bit different”.

Leaving The Sessile, Alice Beckett had found herself wandering towards the local Greggs. “I saw this little pink cake, which was called a Tottenham cake”. She impulse-bought a slice of the nostalgic sponge, then shade-matched the icing with paint swatches picked up from nearby Tottenham Retail Park. Her dynamic tiered cake stand was highly commended by the judges.

“Some of the students have spoken about the materiality of the building, but others have really told their own personal stories about the location,”

Emma Lacey

Others found inspiration in the seat patterns of the Victorian line trains that delivered the students back to CSM, or the cheery minutiae of home. “When I think about having big dinners with my family, we always pass sauce bowls around to each other, and that interaction – that’s community,” says student Emily Hall, “so I made a sauceboat”.

Imogen Magee, whose collection was also highly commended, got chatting to fishermen baiting their rods at Walthamstow Marshes, who lamented the lack of easy connection between neighbours. Her response was a set of sharing plates, which form the outline of the marshes when slotted together. Give each resident a piece, she says, and they’ll soon put the puzzle together over drinks or dinner.

Between sharing plate trials, she produced a ceramic key that represented the house in Tottenham where her parents had lived as newlyweds. “Some of the students have spoken about the materiality of the building, but others have really told their own personal stories about the location,” says Emma.

“When I think about having big dinners with my family, we always pass sauce bowls around to each other, and that interaction – that’s community,”

Emily Hall

In the end it was Colin Huxham who came up trumps for his series of Brutalist vessels that hinged on an unusual plaster casting technique. Hand-made moulds that trace the boundaries of Haringey were sliced and rearranged, producing patchwork-style seams that represent the borough’s shifting character.

“The students were so experimental in their designs,” says Linda. “I had an amazing first impression of the work that they created.” Emily was awarded second place for her elevated sauce boats, and Yuna Seong third for her textural ombre plates and beakers influenced by a sofa that caught her eye at The Sessile.

“I love the fact that this was about home,” says Busola. “No matter where you live, or where you’re from, there needs to be a sense of belonging. I think that’s a universal thing that everyone can relate to.”

Learn more about life at The Sessile.