Meet Ant Kelly
This month’s Maker of the Month is Ant Kelly Creations, where clay meets creativity and a touch of whimsy. Working from her garden studio in Kent, Antoinette (Ant) Kelly transforms stoneware and porcelain into unique ceramic designs – from bold Pop Art biscuit plates to delicate porcelain jewellery and enchanting gingerbread house tea-light holders inspired by her Danish heritage. After a long career as a graphic designer and art director, Ant took a leap of faith to follow her dream of working with clay, and her joyful collections now bring warmth, character and a little hygge into people’s homes. We caught up with Ant to hear about her journey, her inspirations, and the magic behind her festive ceramics.
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Tell us a bit about your background and why you started your creative business.
My name is Antoinette Cecilia Kelly working as Ant Kelly Creations 🐜 “Unique ceramic designs • lovingly handmade to be treasured.” I am a ceramic artist/designer making functional and decorative items, somewhat whimsical in nature, using stoneware and porcelain clays.
After finishing my A levels at school, I went on to complete a Foundation Course in Art & Design at the City and Guilds of London Art School (there was a bit of sculpting with clay which was wonderful). This was such a fantastic course and I would highly recommend a foundation course to anyone starting out on their creative journey.
I listened to the advice of my tutors and went on to study graphics for another 4 years. I completed a 2-year HND in Graphic Design but felt as though I needed more time to study, so I applied to enter year 2 of a degree course. I finally graduated with a BA (Hons) from Bath College of Higher Education in Graphic Design in 1994!
My first job was as an in-house designer at Selfridges, and my role was to work on all their events and seasonal campaigns including Christmas. I also worked on lots of packaging. After four years, I decided to try freelancing and found myself working again on Christmas campaigns for large retailers. So I actually was Mrs Christmas for many, many years before spending about 16 years working for a large London-based marketing company as a designer/art director working on Happy Meals and other campaigns for McDonald’s (amongst other things).
In 2019, life took a turn. Early in the year, my Mother passed away and then only a few months later my role was made redundant, which forced me to reevaluate my life. The big question was: should I find another job as a graphic designer, or take a chance to follow my dreams of working with clay and change my whole way of life?
At that time, I was about a year away from turning 50, and I knew that if I didn’t give it a go I would always be left wondering ‘What if?’, so I took a massive leap of faith to follow my dreams of working with clay…
I enrolled in a beginner’s class at The Clay Room in Orpington in the autumn of 2019, and when the opportunity came to apply for an open-access membership I jumped at the chance and was accepted. All was going brilliantly until Covid knocked things a little sideways in 2020!
I used the time at home to learn as much as possible, trying out all sorts of different techniques from my kitchen table – I took an online Kurinuki carving course with RCA Alumni Annette Lindenberg, which taught me some interesting techniques that I now use in combination with some of my thrown work.
Once I was able to get back to The Clay Room, I learned how to make a complex plaster mould with guidance from the incredible Sophie Southgate and did my first slip casting using her moulds to try out different decorating techniques including ‘water etching’ which I LOVE – I am currently developing a new collection of my own range of slip-cast vessels with water-etched leaf designs.
After a long-awaited house move in June 2021, I finally started working in my own creative space in the summer of 2022 with the luxury of a purpose-built garden room with views out onto our tranquil garden.
But it wasn’t until November 2023 that I felt brave enough to set up my Folksy shop and did my first market that December with a range of Christmas decorations that filled a small table at a local school event, and I have been building on those foundations ever since.
My reality now is a very short walk to work each day, accompanied by my handsome hound, a beagle called Bodie.
What do you make and how would you describe your style?
I don’t yet have one particular style as I really enjoy doing lots of different things – perhaps one day I will stick with one thing but for now it brings me joy to continue exploring the possibilities of this marvellous (and sometimes frustrating) material.
I have had a little bit of guidance throwing on the potter’s wheel, but am mostly self-taught. With practice, my skills are slowly improving and my confidence is growing. I am particularly enjoying throwing plates, and I have just recently thrown my biggest bowls to date, using 3kg of clay – it was a bit of a wrestling match (!) – but managed to produce some impressive pieces (one of which is a commission piece).
Apart from going big, I am also going small with a range of glazed porcelain pieces that I have put together with sterling silver findings as a small jewellery collection – my latest batch exceeded my expectations and I am looking forward to developing more designs as time goes on.
What inspires your work?
My graphic design and illustration background influences my style and I particularly like working with strong graphic lines. For example, my collection of Pop Art style biscuit plates and range of flower stakes for the garden.
I feel that this bold style is something that I will continue to explore and expand upon.
Tell us about your creative process
I use a sketch book to formulate my ideas (but also scraps of paper and the backs of envelopes!). Sometimes I use design software to refine an idea or create a template which I then use to cut out shapes in clay (my gingerbread houses, for example). But sometimes it just makes better sense to just make it and see what happens in 3D clay.
There’s SO much to learn and the best lesson is to make mistakes!
What’s your workspace or studio like?
I have a ‘garden room’ studio which was constructed during the spring of 2022 by a local company @bexleygardenrooms.
It is approximately 6m x 3.5m, which is big enough for my Skutt kiln, Shimpo potter’s wheel, and a small photography area.
Some old school science lab tables form my main working area, and I have a quirky old upcycled harpsichord stand fashioned into a table, which I use as another work area when I am sketching or underglazing bisque ware (items that have just had their first firing) prior to glazing. It’s so nice to sit in the curve of the table that feels really snug, and I have a lovely view out onto the greenery of our garden.
What’s your favourite thing to make – and why?
Although they are really fiddly, I particularly love to make my incense burner gingerbread houses with working chimneys… It’s so nice to make something that actually does something!
Recently, I have been developing this idea and made a prototype of a teeny house on a hill with a working chimney – I was worried that it wouldn’t work at all but it does! I have learned from this first version that I will now work on for the next test and hope that these may become part of my range in time.
What’s something people might not know about your craft or the skills involved?
Working with clay can be incredibly frustrating and very time-consuming. Despite what you might see on the telly, it is important to dry things very slowly to prevent cracking, and everything has to be fully dried out before firing, otherwise your work can explode in the kiln!
Patience is definitely a virtue in this line of business. The worst thing is to rush! This means that the turnaround for items can be anywhere between 4 to 6 weeks (also because I need enough work ready to fill up the kiln ready for firing). So lots of time needs to be allocated for custom-made items – especially when hand-decorated, which is very time-consuming.
What does creativity mean to you?
Creativity to me means expression and experimentation without restrictions. Each new idea leads to another and so on – so creativity is growth and development too. I am so very fortunate to have the freedom to explore…
What does Christmas look like for you?
I was born in London and raised bi-lingual English/Danish, my Mother being Danish and my Father, Welsh – so I am a bit mixed up ;)
My childhood was spent being part of the Anglo-Danish community in London, and we regularly visited the Danish Church in Regent’s Park as a family. I was not very keen on (an understatement!) at being at ‘school’ to learn Danish every other Saturday, but I am very grateful now that I am able to speak Danish when I go over to visit my family.
Christmas in Denmark is candlelit and cosy with feasting, singing & dancing around the Christmas tree and the exchange of gifts on Christmas Eve. It’s magical! I love that my Mother continued this tradition on in my childhood, and now with children of my own they have enjoyed the best mix of both worlds.
The countdown to Christmas is very special indeed and I still have the embroidered advent calendar that my Mother finished making in 1972.
The design is of pixies (in Danish, ‘Nisse’) pulling a bell rope – with embroidered numbers for 24 days in December – each has a small white ring to attach little gifts or sweets each day and my ‘boys’ (now 19 and 21) are still delighted to see this to appear – it just wouldn’t be Christmas without it!
Advent Sundays are also a very important tradition in Danish culture. Danish families celebrate the four Sundays before Christmas with the lighting of a candle on their ‘adventskrans’, the advent wreath, every Sunday in Advent until all four candles are lit.
My Christmas Collection has been hugely influenced by my Danish heritage and my childhood memories of time spent together as a family – my intention is to bring this same feeling of ‘hygge’ to your home – something which brings family together with cosy candlelight (such as the tea-light gingerbread houses) and unique table decorations creating special memories that with love and care will last for many generations to come.
I always buy some pine branches and collect holly and other evergreen foliage from our garden to decorate our Christmas table, sideboards, window sills, and empty vases. I add small pine cones and Danish paper stars “julestjerner” to add depth and height. My ceramics are snugged in between the evergreens – the pine smells soooo good! :) Battery-operated tea-lights still give that lovely candle twinkle without the danger of a real flame (especially with young children running around). I include these as standard with all of my gingerbread tea-light houses and Christmas tree tea-light holders, which have holes drilled for the light to shine through.
Do you have any festive products you’re particularly proud of this year?
Which three Folksy things are you buying for, or Folksy shops are you buying from, this Christmas – or would love to receive?
These things would bring a little Scandinavian ‘hygge’ to my Christmas 🎄
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone thinking about starting a creative business?
Don’t compare yourself to others. Be brave and just take some small steps to get started and keep building from there… you learn a lot from making mistakes! Feedback is such a gift and that only comes from sharing with the world – you will soon know what works and what doesn’t work :).
What is a quote you live by?
“Life is mostly froth and bubble, two things stand like stone, kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own.” Adam Lindsay Gordon.
I just love this – it’s been in my head since childhood – perhaps from my Father?
Previous Featured Maker – Henry Says
To find out more about Henry Says head to their shop or read all our previous maker interviews here.
