ERITH TILE

Dates:
 October 2022 - June 2025

In 2022, I was commissioned by Exchange Erith, a community organisation based in Erith, Southeast London to work with the local volunteers to develop a design for a tile which could be produced in-house and used in the continued community fit-out of their Grade II listed building, former Library in Erith.

Over a two-and-a-half year period, I regularly met with a group of volunteers at the Exchange, where we arrived at a tile design and production methods through a combination of making and glaze-testing workshops, lectures on local geology, history and glaze technology, community decision panels and many informal conversations.

The final result was a stoneware tile with glaze made out of the river mud from the Thames, located just 300 metres from the ceramics workshop at the Exchange, which today covers the walls of the building and continues to be made into fictional objects at the Exchange and beyond. Some objects, like the Hemmings Tray, used in the cafe downstairs, represent a collaboration across the different workshops at the Exchange.

The project has been exhibited at GROUNDWORKS at County Hall Pottery during London Craft Week 2025 and during Artists' Open House 2026.























THE SOURCE / THE PLACE

What began as a three-month commission turned into a longer-term collaboration with the Exchange and a group of regular volunteers. The Old Library building is located a stone’s throw from the River Thames and we quickly identified the river as an abundant and sustainable source for tile production.

We collected, processed and developed the river alluvium into a functional ceramic glaze, nicknamed Erith Gold. A process which took almost two years to complete.

Although producing tiles was the goal, the outcome in this project was, in a way, secondary. Both myself and the Exchange, who have a strong craft ethos and a real dedication to skill, material and quality, were most of all interested  in the potential of getting the community involved in the production from sourcing materials to the end product. It was an outlet for an investigation into the geology of the area they live in, how it shaped its past and continues to shape its present.

Undertaking the material research collectively was very productive, not just because it allowed us to do the digging, processing and testing on a larger scale –  people became invested in the process because of how much effort they had to put into making this material they collected themselves into an object fit for their building. They were curious to see it transformed in the kiln. A sense of camaraderie developed in the group, people took ownership of new skills very quickly and passed them between each other, which was especially visible when new members joined the group. For many of them it was their first experience of ceramics but they brought skills from their jobs and passions and found some of them transferable.

1. Erith Tiles installed in the Garden Room at the Exchange Erith. (photo: Exchange Erith)
2. The Hemmings Tray at GROUNDWORKS exhibition at County Hall Pottery. (photo: County Hall Pottery)



1. The Thames alluvium in Erith. (photo: Exchange Erith)
2. Glaze tests at Erith Exchange.

THE CELEBRATION

In 2024, Elena Gileva, the powerhouse behind the ceramics project GLOST, interviewed me as part of conducted a series about process-focused ceramicists. A year later, she brought her interviewees into an exhibition at County Hall Pottery in London.

GROUNDWORKS opened in May 2025 for London Craft Week. The exhibition examined the fundamental relationship between raw materials and ceramic creation, offering visitors insight into the processes that shape contemporary sustainable practices. It brought together the work of Natalia Kasprzycka, Rosanna Martin, Phil Root, Steven Sales, Julia Ellen-Lancaster, Agne Kucerenkaite, Alternative Ceramic Supply, Golden Earth Studio and Hyeonyoung Kim.

With County Hall Pottery being close to the Thames in another part of London, this was the perfect opportunity to share the Erith Gold project with the wider public and show samples from our long collective research process. We showed biaxial and line blends created together with the volunteers, as well a new product developed at the Exchange in collaboration with their wood workshop and led by Matt Mead - The Hemmings Tray. It was the perfect way to celebrate together with the many people involved in the process.

More information and images here.

1&2. GROUNDWORKS at Country Hall Pottery, 2025. (photo: