Sassy is the singer of the group, she often works late at night, gigging in Jazz bars in the centre of the city. Mornings are a no no for Sassy, and lunch time is her favourite meal of the day.
Sundays, are when she she goes off for long walks, drawing inspiration from nature. She likes to sit by the stream and write poetry and words. Minnie her friend plays the sax and they sometimes jam together through the night. Sassy wishes Minnie would play with her at her gigs.
Watch this space……….
Welcome Cat Lovers! Introducing Minnie, she is a mischievous cat; always eating off other people’s plates and hiding things behind the sofa. Minnie’s partner in crime is Sassy, although Minnie often gets the blame. She secretly wants to be more educated and often dreams of living in New York, as a fashion designer. To see more of Minnie go to www.hannahturner.co.uk
‘I love playing with my friends Bert and Amy, they are always playing practical jokes on me. The other day I got a phone call saying I was late for school, I panicked and got ready as quickly as possible and went downstairs for breakfast. My mum said, ‘why are you up so early Suzy?’ Then I realised it was still the Hoildays. ‘You Guys!’
Visit my friends and me at www.hannahturner.co.uk xxx
Hannah Turner
Hannah Turner is based in central Bristol, where she has a co-operative studio called Blaze which she
shares with five other artists. She graduated from Bristol University back in 1991 in Ceramics. It was her sell out final show that drove Hannah into continuing to create her unique collectable birds. Hannah gathers her inspiration from vintage wrapping paper, cartoons and comic characters, similar to artist
Sasek.
These highly charismatic ceramic birds are a must have for any home. Each bird is hand dipped into timeless colours; then the hand designed decorative transfers are applied randomly by hand to create an individual collectable piece. The ceramic designs are reminiscent of the 1950′s and will add instant character to any shelf of mantel. As well as the ceramic birdies, new to the collection are cute ceramic
cats which are also presented in similar colour ways.
The very quirky ceramic tableware range is available in two different styles, the Birdie range and the Pom Pom range. The collection of items are mugs, coasters, bowls, teapots and jugs which have all been hand dipped into a pastel blue colour, whilst the top half has been left an off white. The transfers are then applied by hand onto the pieces which creates a trendy and unique tableware item.
Hannah Turner’s Signature Ceramic Birds Studio Desk In Bristol Hannah Turner
Coming soon! Hannah Turner e-commerce site. YEAH!!! xxx
Danielle Proud,
The Sunday Times
Hannah Turner has been designing and making her own unique ceramics for nearly twenty years. During that time, her highly collectable ranges of birds and cats, with their 1950s influence and quirky character, have earned her a special place in the market.
“I get kicks out of the funniest things,” laughs Turner, as she reminisces over her last two decades as a successful designer. “My earlier work is very different to my newer designs and I once had a woman who came up to me and said that she’d been a collector of my work for many years and that she had recently managed to find one of my old bird pieces on eBay. Even though it was in quite bad condition, she had paid over £150 for it!”
That was the moment that Turner realized her pieces had become true collectors’ items – quite a landmark for any designer. Her love of clay began during her foundation art course in Swindon where she “really got into creating characters and representing nature in clay”. She graduated from Bristol University with a degree in Ceramics in 1991 and has been selling her work ever since.
“The theme of my degree show was loosely based on taxidermy in the way that it was arranged and displayed – wall-mounted animal heads and fish in ceramic display cases,” reflects Turner. “As a token after-thought I also included six black crows in the collection. I love these birds, they have such character and are quite human in the way they walk and move their head. They turned out to be really popular and like everything else in my show, they sold out.”
Indeed, Turner was able to pay off her student debts with the proceeds from her final show alone. “That’s when I realized that my ceramics could be commercially successful and this was so gratifying because it was the confidence boost I needed to go on and set up my own business.”
Until then Turner had planned to go into animation or become a model-maker when she graduated but when she received so many orders for her work, the obvious next step was to take a studio space and start work immediately to fulfill them.
The range now consists of ceramic birds, cats and tableware plus a range of cards, badges and compacts that feature prints of her characterful animals in 2D. But it all started with the creation of her very stylized birds, for which the ceramicist has become known, with their comically emphasized tail and beak that seems cartoon-like and yet is so redolent of the character of these real-life creatures.
“The creation of my pieces all starts with the shape and I work very instinctively,” explains Turner. “My look is influenced by body shapes and lines of the 50s and 60s.”
The distinctive shape is created with the use of plaster-filled balloons that are set and then sanded down to make the body shape more angular. All the pieces are made separately; the beak, tail and crest are made from flat pieces of plaster, carefully filed to shape. Then a complete piece is made and a final cast is taken, which is then fired three times.
The original colour palette was affected by the limited range of colours available to ceramicists, but nevertheless became part of Turner’s signature look; greens, blues, greys and black and white adding to the retro feel, although more recently brighter colours have been used for the new range, which include more juicy reds and oranges plus bright pink and turquoise.
Of course such designs were never intended to be made in volume and Turner only makes one or two different moulds for each range. The special quality of her pieces is undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that each one is still completely handmade by the designer herself in her Bristol-based design studio-cum-shop called Blaze. It means that Turner is constantly involved in every aspect of the business from start to finish as she describes.
“I spend one day in a week in the shop, manning the till and attending to customer queries. Other days I will spend a lot of time downstairs in the studio, casting and glazing. I tend to work in large batches, so there’s always lots of finishing and decorating to be done. The rest of my time is taken up with packaging and invoicing – I constantly curse the lack of local post offices in Bristol!
“I work on my own, in that I do all this myself. Apart from designing and making, there are other sides of the business that demand my time such as producing new brochures and updating the website. I’m toying with the idea of taking on staff to help with the production side and leave me with more time to design.”
Although there is only one Hannah Turner running her business, she does not work entirely alone. She is one of five other artists that design and sell their work through the Blaze cooperative.
“Being a part of Blaze has been lovely for me, like finding my tribe,” enthuses Turner. “Before, I was working in my artist’s studio for three years and finally needed a change in my working life. I found out about this shop/studio called Blaze, right in the centre of Bristol, which had built up a good reputation for itself.
“At the time, there were only ceramicists based there but now there are others such as a leather accessories designer-maker and a silversmith. I love the fact I can now cycle into work and my collection has a much more public showcase. There’s a real family feel to the place, although given the fact we’re all women, some days are difficult and some are brilliant, but we’ve learned to work around each other!”
The run up to a show is always a very busy time for a designer/maker, none more so than Top Drawer Spring last January. Two weeks before the show Turner decided to change everything in the range including the transfers.
“I was bored with the shapes and had worn out most of my moulds,” she explains. “It’s easy to become bogged down and you forget to make time for creativity. I had been doing lots of sketches but hadn’t had time to implement them so I went into frenzied production to create a brand new collection in time for the show. It was a huge amount of work but the feedback and new orders I gained made it all worthwhile.”
While Turner only attends a couple of shows a year, she likes to have a presence at Top Drawer and the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate where she gains stimulation from meeting buyers and valuable feedback on her work. For Turner it’s not about quantity of wholesale accounts so much as finding the right kind of retailer or gallery-owner who not only appreciates her unique, handmade work but can sell it at the right price-point.
Luckily there is a devoted following for Turner’s work, which appears to be both trend and recession-proof as she suggests.
“What became apparent in this so-called recession is that people are still spending but they are cutting out the cheap end and buying a few good quality pieces that will last. Trends vary and often it swings quickly from simplicity to something like folksy colour and a lot of it is dictated by what magazines focus on. My work has always had a retro feel with a mid-century design ethos and it’s great that this trend has also been popular with the public so I feel there’s still definitely a place for me.”
While Turner is not keen on radically changing her business overnight, she certainly has an eye on the future and, as she has done over the previous years, she aims to evolve her collection slowly but surely by building on her brand signature. Future plans include splitting the manufacture into two different directions by creating a higher-priced range of limited edition pieces that will be available alongside her other existing ranges, thereby catering for her loyal collectors as well as new customers alike.
“I’d like to push the 2D side of things more in the future too,” says Turner, who used to do a lot of screen printing in the past, something she’d like to return to in order to develop her ranges. “My greeting cards have sold really well through the shop because they’re great for someone who comes in and loves the ceramics but wants a more affordable version that is easier to display in the home or give as a gift. It’s so important to keep on reinventing and generating new ideas.”
For more information on the designer/maker Hannah Turner please go to www.hannahturner.co.uk
Is there a Hannah Turner in your collection?
Hannah Turner’s quirky and comic collections of cats and birds have been charming the market for nearly twenty years.
Inspired by the shapes, lines and hues of the 1950s, these hand-made unique creatures are modern classics and now it’s even easier to start collecting.
The designer-maker has launched the first range of limited edition Hannah Turner pieces that will be available alongside her other existing ranges, thereby catering for loyal collectors as well as new customers alike.
With their pronounced beaks, tails and crests, sharp-eyed expressions and retro colour palette, Hannah Turner’s characterful birds have become her signature look; instantly recognizable and adorable.
Each one hand-made and finished by the designer in her Bristol-based studio, they have a timeless quality and fresh appeal; tapping into today’s love of retro and nostalgia, yet also offering beautiful, unique ceramics that will endure any trend.
To get your Hannah Turner Ceramic please go to www.hannahturner.co.uk
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| Danielle Proud, The Sunday Times |
Recent arrivals to boo vake are these whimsical ceramics by Kent based designer Polly George, produced in crisp white fine bone china. After much admiring from afar we now have Mrs & Mrs Jones lemon & lime squeezers, Mrs & Mrs Jones cups and Mrs & Mrs Jones bottles. Could just make that perfect wedding present! And they come boxed too. Also in are a selection of her butterfly, rose & bird tea-lights and butterfly cups & saucers.
And a welcome return for Hannah Turner’s ceramic hedge warblers & oddies (crested or otherwise!) in oranges or blues.
polly george: mr & mrs jones lemon & lime squeezers £22,£18; mr & mrs j cups £17,£15; mr & mrs j bottles £22,£18; tealights £12 (all boxed). hannah turner: hedge warbler (un-crested) £36 hedge warbler (un-crested) £36.
Another lovely gift I got was a lovely Hannah Turner bird www.hannahturner.co.uk Here are a few more of the wonderful ceramic songsters above. I love the colours and almost 1950′s look to them. I have one on my dresser, but think he needs a pal !
http://www.bettyjoy.blogspot.com/
emma lamb said…
emma
x
Leigh Shepherd said…
Jenni said…
Design…Stat said…
More fabulous ceramic birds from Hannah Turner. We have gracing our shelves…. the Crested Chatter-Bill, the Crested Fan Tail, the Crested Hedge Warbler, the Oddie and the Crested Oddie! Some lovely new colours too. What more could you want!
