Jeremy Nichols

Jeremy Nichols is a Hertfordshire based artist, currently working from a studio he established on a farm shortly after graduation around 20 years ago. His practice showcases his affinity for teapots and his early interest in aviation and engineering for their design and method of construction.

Nichols’ distinctive salt glazed domestic teapots feature open handles, demonstrating a strong focus on design and a rejection of convention.

“My teapots may be seen as lying on the sometimes fuzzy boundary between Design – that’s to say “doing what it says on the tin” in terms of utilitarian function – and Sculpture, or at least that area of sculptural ceramics defined by the notion of the ‘Abstract Vessel’.

In developing this work, my trainings, in Aeronautical Engineering in the 1970s and in Ceramics in the 1990s, have given me a strong foundation for exploring the relationship between form and function. In particular, I have become interested in what compromises to utilitarian function I can make in the search for expressive form before the designs stray over this boundary and into abstraction.

This exploration began with rethinking the conventions of the handle and this continues to be my focus – I want the pots to be visually exciting, to stimulate the imagination with a sense of movement in the form, whilst at the same time looking and feeling balanced when handled and used.”