Front Page of SUNDAY TIMES Home Section

11th June 2023

Home Notes podcast: Stories from Site

Lydia chats to Jane and Amy from renovation consultancy Homes Notes, about the extension and renovation of her one bedroom flat in London.

Together with partner and architect, Dan Ruddick, the pair wanted to wholeheartedly get involved in the build process. They arranged with their contractors to self-finish their works and complete the final parts of the project themselves, including decorating, laying flooring,

Click HERE to visit the Home Notes website to listen to the podcast!

Fettle Studio Interview in the AJ

Read in full on the Architects Journal website

HIX Interiors Expo

18th & 19th November 2021

Through expo, talks, installations and networking, Hotel Interiors Expirience (HIX) celebrates and brings together the people that represent the hotel interiors supply chain. It connects both, established and emerging brands: creators of bathrooms, fabrics, furniture, lighting, objects & art, spa & wellness, surfaces and technology with the designers, interior architects, specifiers, project managers, operators, procurement and developers who bring the guest experience to life.

Fettle Studio have been given a complimentary stand thanks to HIX and will be representing the ‘support-small, emerging artist, micro-business, designer-maker’ end of the scale, alongside some of the biggest brands in interiors and product design.

https://hixevent.com/hix-exhibitor/fettle-studio/

Home Made Pop-Up

At Host of Leyton 29/30/31st October

A local pop-up shop celebrating an eclectic mix of artists, makers and illustrators, curated by Fettle Studio, from tableware to artwork. Also offering architectural advice for your home extension!

Visit this beautiful pop-up and find your home, made.

Tessellating Leyton

Lydia was shortlisted with Citizens Design Bureau in the final two entries for wall-mounted public art beneath the Leyton Midland Road Station bridge, on High Road Leyton. The proposal, named Tessellating Leyton, is for a large installation of colourful, vibrant, well lit glazed ceramic tiles, involving a number of community workshops. Read more at Waltham Forest’s Making Places website.

Hand Held to Super Scale: Building with Ceramics

Curated by Fettle Studio and the Building Centre
September 2019 to January 2020

Exhibition now open and looking fabulous! Check out our introductory film with Lydia of Fettle Studio and Jenny of the Building Centre and Black Shed Ceramics. And keep your eyes peeled for upcoming talks!

Image copyright: John MacLean

Hand Held to Super Scale: Building with Ceramics introduced by curators Jenny Watt and Lydia Johnson
© Chris Jackson, film courtesy of the Building Centre

Hand Held to Super Scale: Building with Ceramics

Curated by Fettle Studio and the Building Centre
Showing September 2019 to January 2020

This autumn the Building Centre celebrates the resurgence of ceramics in contemporary architecture, bringing together the designers, artists, manufacturers and ceramicists working on ground-breaking projects in this versatile material.

The exhibition explores a close connection between hand-held ceramic objects and large-scale urban interventions – from the glazed household items that inspire whole building facades to the manufacturers using scaled-up processes familiar to studio potters. Both traditional production methods and innovative technology are equally embraced in the show, with hand-crafted pieces sitting alongside mass ceramic production and robotic technology.

Collaboration is at the heart of the exhibition and events programme as we share the journey of unique partnerships that push boundaries and produce inspirational buildings. Newly completed projects, buildings still under construction, handmade items and classic examples of ceramics in architecture all come together to help tell the story of ceramics.

The practices and artists featured in the show range from established figures to emerging talents and includes; AHMM, Assemble, Ceràmica Cumella, Denizen Works, ECAlab, EPR Architects with ceramicist Kate Malone, Eric Parry Architects with artist Richard Deacon, FAT Architecture with Grayson Perry, Feilden Fowles, Fettle Studio, Granby Workshop, Grymsdyke Farm, Jamie Fobert Architects, Metropolitan Workshop, Penoyre & Prasad, Piercy & Co.

'Hand Held to Super Scale: Building with Ceramics’ is an exhibition and associated public programme curated by the Building Centre exhibitions team and Fettle Studio, a ceramics studio founded by Lydia Johnson, architect and product designer at Citizens Design Bureau. Supported by the Built Environment Trust.

Independent Ceramics Market
11th & 12th May 2019

Abney Public Hall
73a Stoke Newington Church Street
N16 0AS

Shortlisted for the Antepavilion Competition!

Lydia’s design has been shortlisted as one of 5 entries chosen of over 200, to design and construct an experimental structure on a rooftop site in Haggerston. Read about the shortlisted on the Architects Journal and the Architecture Foundation websites.

Grown and Thrown

Freshly made Fettle Pots are being delivered to DIY Art Shop for the Grown and Thrown Event - get a plant and a pot in one place, and spruce up your house before Spring!

Facade Tile Samples Complete

For Penoyre & Prasad’s Learning and Teaching Centre at Brunel University. These tiles have been developed over many weeks in collaboration with P&P and likely manufacturers, NBK Terracotta.

Independent Ceramics & DIY Art Market

2nd February 2019
11 - 6pm, £1 entry
Unit 8, 133 Copeland Park, Peckham, SE15 3SN

Fettle Studio in Vogue!

See the Vogue article here, and find Lydia’s early work in Turning Earth’s online gallery of makers at the E2 studio.

15th December 2018
Clay Collective Open Studio!!

Please come and visit us for a cosy, intimate look at our studio, where all the magic happens!

No big crowds, just a tailored choice of high quality handmade ceramics by independent makers, on hand to meet and greet.

Lots of sale items before Christmas!

15th December 2018
Fettle at Netil

A special selection of Fettle Studio ceramics will be available from the Clay Collective stand at Netil House Market on the 15th December.

8th and 9th December 2018
DIY Art Market and
Independent Ceramics Market
at Rich Mix, Shoreditch

Come and find some affordable Fettle Studio seconds, alongside many other artisan makers and craftspeople!

The Oasis Pop Up Shop, by Artisan & Fox
63, Hanbury St, Spitalfields, 1 Dec - 21 Dec

Made slow, to last long — this is an ethos shared by all the artisan initiatives gathering in the #TheOasisXmasPopup throughout December. We’re excited to join this extraordinary lineup of craft brands from across the globe.

From Asia to Africa, from the old city of Kabul to metropolis London, The Oasis is a gathering of some of our world’s most extraordinary contemporary craftsmanship. The store celebrates craftsmanship of new and old, be it artisan techniques with centuries of history, or innovative mechanisms by modern-day makers.

Your one-stop shop for ethical, sustainable and transparent Xmas gifts. Find us in-stores at 63 Hanbury Street, E1 5JP at London Spitalfields. From 1 Dec - 21 Dec, 10AM-7PM daily.

The Little Shop Christmas Pop Up!
101, Stoke Newington High Street

Come and support The Little Shop in Bristol... in London!

Fettle Studio has delivered a collection of beautiful works for sale at the Little Shop’s pop up on Stoke Newington High Street.

Open 6 days a week, open til 7pm, through till Christmas.

24th & 25th November 2018
Turning Earth Xmas Market!

After a year's hiatus, Turning Earth's popular East London ceramics studios are once again opening their doors to the public over two major Winter Market events with over 150 makers, plus live music and food.

Fettle Studio will be selling at the Hoxton Studio on 24/25 November!!

Sudbury Neighbourhood Centre

Fettle Studio’s proposals for refurbishment and extension of this local community asset have been granted planning approval! November 2018.

View the project here.

September 25th 2018
Archipreneurialists Talk

Lydia was invited to speak at RIBA South East London Architects’ event, ‘Archipreneurialists’, to share how she has developed as a ceramicist, alongside her career in architecture.

Thanks to everyone who attended the event at the RIBA Forum. Some great conversations had afterwards, and great to meet new people.

August 2018
Fettle Studio is shortlisted for the V&A’s Door to Design workshops

The V&A were looking for an artist to design and run 10 workshops with KS2 students, inspired by the architecture of the new courtyard and extension, culminating in a Family Day and Exhibition at the Sackler Centre in Summer 2019.

Lydia’s proposal for clay workshops, inspired by the textures and geometries of the V&A, working from small scale 2D mosaics, up to large 3D tessellating collaborative artworks, reached interview stage and was highly commended.

11th May to the 6th June 2018
Fettle Studio in Exhibition!

An exciting moment in Fettle's first year - Lydia's full Tessellating Cups collection, plus Manhattan Dishes and Tableware, will be on display at Thrown Contemporary gallery for the month. This includes some very special wall hung pieces, that bring together the varied glazes and interlocking form of tessellating cups to create continuous arrays of colour, depth and light, to stand back and enjoy.

18th March 2018
Ceramics Market, Barbican Conservatory

Lydia will take her Fettle Studio wares to an exciting exhibition and market at the Barbican Conservatory in London, as part of Barbican Open Fest! https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/barbican-openfest-markets

Past Stockists & Features:

Sarah’s Coffee & Cakes, Leytonstone
DIY Art Shop, Shacklewell Lane, Hackney
The Little Shop, 125 Cheltenham Road, Bristol
Vogue Online Support Independent Makers, Article
The Oasis Pop-Up, 63 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields
The Little Shop Pop-Up, 101 Stoke Newington High Street
Thrown Contemporary Gallery, Highgate
Common Objects x Workks Pop Up Shop, Windermere
Time cook book, by Gill Meller
Cook for Syria (recipe by Ed Smith)
Rocket & Squash Food Blog, by Ed Smith
Genevieve Sweeney Knitwear and Alice Levine, Radio 1 DJ
TheTheStore, Hackney
Botanique, Exmouth Market (formerly In With The Old)

January 2018
Fettle Studio launched!

2018 sees the establishment of Lydia's new professional outlet for her ceramics and small-scale architectural works, ahead of some exciting new projects coming this year!

October 2016
RIBA Life of Clay Exhibition

My early ceramics work is being shown as part of an exciting exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects, open 18th October to 27th November, alongside many other fascinating experiments and fabrications in clay by other professional makers and students of Grymsdyke Farm.
https://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/October2016/LifeofClay.aspx

September 2016
Autumn Sale at Turning Earth

Another great Turning Earth Sale! Thanks for all the attention given to my tessellating cups, wobble pots and hand built bowls and plates. Spot my little stall in the middle there!!

June 2016
Summer Sale at Turning Earth

(photo by Arthur Rummel)



Christmas 2015
Please join us for our Winter Sale

My first market with Turning Earth Ceramics Studio!!
5th and 6th December, just off Kingsland Road in Hoxton, with nearly 50 makers selling their beautiful handmade wares. We are part of Small Business Saturday!!
We also have mulled wine, music, food, and lots of festive spirit!!

December 2014
Foxglove Street completed

Final completion photographs taken. The project has now been built out and finished internally, with the construction managed by the client. Property to be sold with planning permission for the rear extension.



















June 2014
Louisa Guinness Exhibition Stand constructed

A collaboration with set designer and prop stylist, Sam Barbic.
The exhibition stand features at Design Miami/Basel through June, and is later expected to appear at PAD London.





April 2014
Launch of the Refurbished Southwark Pensioners Centre

As sole designer of the refurbishment works to Southwark Pensioners Centre, the launch of the updated facility was a proud afternoon. With a complete internal redecoration, new flooring, furniture and fittings, the feedback from the community was exceptionally positive and thankful, as were comments from the local MPs and trustees in attendance.
As a charity organisation, Southwark Pensioners Centre is a crucial part of many people's lives in the neighbourhood, always busy with activites, events and classes, and provides a much needed support system and friendship to local over 50s. To be able to help such a large number of people with a refreshed facility, through creative collaboration and simple but complimentary design ideas, has been a very fulfilling and rewarding process. Personally managed and realised over only a matter of months, the centre is now able to support the people and activites the charity is aiming for, in a productive and efficient manner, within a more comfortable, enlivened and pleasurable environment.