Celia Dowson

Celia Dowson is a London based artist and graduate of the Royal College of Art, where she specialised in making both ceramics and cast glass. Her artistic intention is to draw out the beauty and connections, which can be made through everyday objects – going beyond the classical concepts of function. Fascinated by industrial processes, she adapts traditional modelling and casting techniques to make bespoke pieces.

Celia Dowson, Future Heritage 2019 Alumni

For her ceramics she uses a machine called a jigger-jolly, which is an old piece of equipment that is ordinarily used in mass production. However, Dowson is interested in how this traditional modelling technique can be adapted to create something individual.

With glass, she relishes the element of surprise where beautiful bubbles and internal movement can be achieved. This is dependent on how the glass folds and melts when being cast for several days in a kiln. While this offers fluidity and movement, the modelling and finishing processes are always very controlled; the forms Dowson makes are symmetrical and there is real clarity in the surface finish.

'Rhossili 2019' by Celia Dowson

At Future Heritage

For Future Heritage 2019, Dowson developed a new range of large glass platters in Burnt Orange, Indigo Blue and Misty Grey which were inspired by her 2018 Rhossili collection. The 46cm diameter pieces required a high level of technical precision and skill to cast and then hand polish. These platters were accompanied by a collection of smaller vessels in a range of colours. The work is informed by the movement and changing light in nature; reflecting the colours and mystery of the natural world.

“This exhibition [Future Heritage] offered fantastic exposure for my work to a diverse audience as part of an internationally recognised interior design show.” - Celia Dowson

Current work

The Burnt Orange Platter went on to be awarded a Wallpaper* Design Award in February 2020 before being exhibited for a second time at Collect 2020, Somerset House with Bullseye Projects. Dowson’s collections have featured in Wallpaper* and Seed magazine, The Evening Standard and Financial Times and will be further showcased later this year at London Glass Blowing’s ‘Young Masters’ exhibition where Dowson will be showing a new collection of glass work. She is currently integrating skills with a product designer, and fellow RCA graduate, to make an innovative piece of cast glass lighting.

Dowson exhibits throughout the UK and internationally, working with a number of private collectors, galleries and shops including Maud & Mabel, London and Bamford. Her work is also part of two museum collections, Bullseye Projects in Portland, USA and the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan, where she completed a 3 month ceramics residency in 2019. This experience has influenced a new collection, launching in summer 2020, informed by the vivid colour palettes of the Taiwanese landscape.

'Rhossili 2019' by Celia Dowson

To find out more about Celia Dowson visit her website or follow on her on social.

If you would like to make an enquiry about commissions, get in touch here.