Craft Festival 2026…. amazing!

by Sarah Monk | Jul 24, 2026 | Exhibitions

I had THE MOST wonderful of weekends…

What a fantastic event Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey is! I’ve watched it on the old socials for a while (tbh with a little bit of FOMO ) And I can hand on heart say that this event is everything I had hoped for and more! 😊
I loved all the smiles and chatting with customers. But it’s not only about the sales (although of course they are appreciated) for me it’s about connecting with my Craft Community. At an event like Craft Festival, your neighbouring exhibitors become a little community of their own , so I decided to post a few photos of my neighbours on my Instagram page: @sarah_monk_ceramics

Sarah Monk stood in her display at Craft Festival. She is leaning against a dresser full of her pottery and she is smiling at the camera.

A lady is about to pick up a piece of Sarah Monk pottery from her display shelf as a friend and Sarah Monk look on.

My Number One Seller….

You may not be surprised to hear that my flower bricks did extremly well at Bovey Tracey (thank you to those who purchased). I had a hunch that my mini flower bricks may be having a moment…. and I was correct! I think these little cuties are the equivalent of a potter’s mug. An affordable and easy purchase at £38. They make great gifts too!

So there we go, what a brilliant time I had!

Plus a big shout out to my driver & sales assistant (husband) Jon Williams Pottery.
After, we carried our journey westwards down to Cornwall and treated ourselves to a little holiday! We got back into the studio at Eastnor Pottery on Tuesday 23rd June feeling well rested and inspired!

Next up: h.Art Herefordshire Open Studios from the 5th – 13th September 2026.

See you soon,

Sarah x

Sarah Monk standing in her display laughing with a customer who has her back to the camera

Two pink pottery flower bricks, one large and oval, the other, small and retangular. The are both decorated with sgraffito flowers and fresh elderflowers arranged inside.

Jon Williams stood by the Flying Potter van in the car park with a view of the sea behind him.

Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey 2026

by Sarah Monk | Jun 8, 2026 | News

New designs!

I have been steadily working behind the scenes developing new designs to exhibit at the prestigious and award winning Craft Festival!It takes place from the 12th – 14th June at Mill Marsh Park, Bovey Tracey in Devon. It brings together hundreds of curated makers to showcase high-quality ceramics, jewellery, textiles, and glass, alongside workshops, demonstrations, live music, and local food.

I’m really looking forward to it!

Craft Festival is this week, woohoo! So today I’m selecting pieces for my display!” (see Sarah me arranging my dresser on Instagram here)

A lady with long blond hair and glasses, wearing blue jeans and a brown checked short sleeve top is stood leaning against a painted blue and white dresser filled with pink handmade pottery including a selection of flower bricks.

A pink pottery fruit punnet decorated with drawn flower motifs. It contains fresh strawberries and has a banner at the bottom of the picture saying Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey, 12 - 14 June 2026

A dresser display with 3 shelves full of pink pottery made by Sarah Monk

I have many new pieces to bring (it’s been a productive year!)… so it’s hard to choose! I think I’m going to mix some blue and white pieces together with some pink. The pink is a very recent development… I only started it this year, it’s so new! I’m thrilled with results so far and I hope everyone likes it!
This dresser is coming with me too…. ordinarily it sits here at one end of our main studio. I use it to showcase my latest ideas! So I think it will be lovely to bring a little corner of our Eastnor Pottery studio to Devon!

Come and say ‘hello’, I’m on stand B57.

Hope to see you there!
Sarah x

Craft Festival Bovey Tracey is one of the country’s most respected craft events, welcoming over 10,000 visitors every year from across the UK and beyond

Buy Craft Festival Tickets here!

A wheel thrown handmade pottery set. A matching plate, juicer and jug in white with large blue painted dots all over it.

An oval flower brick with sgraffito flowers etched all over it. The flower brick contains a flower arrangement of pink asters.

Two rectangular pink flower bricks, one large, one smaller. They are decorated with large brown dots.

‘The Printed Garden’ at Waterperry Gardens.

by Sarah Monk | Sep 14, 2025 | Exhibitions, News

The Gallery at Waterperry Gardens

What I’m up to next…. ‘The Printed Garden’ at Waterperry opens on the 20th September and I’m making floral sgraffito pieces for The Gallery at Waterperry to compliment the gorgeous prints. 🌼🌸🌻🌺 It was great to meeting gallery curator Kate when I was exhibiting at Craft Festival Cheltenham back in March where I got hear of her plans… sounds rather wonderful! 😊
I’ll be sending a colourful collection of espresso cups with saucers, bowls & spoons, cream jugs, tea mugs and of course, a few of my popular flower bricks in various sizes.
Thank you for the invitation Kate!

A slab built butter dish made by Sarah Monk. It's rectangular in shape with a lid and tray. It's cream in colour with brown sgraffito flowers etched on to the sides for decoration.

Freshly thrown cereal bowls made by Sarah Monk Ceramics

A yellow slab built flower brick decorated with etched flowers. It contains fresh flowers; daisies and pink cyclamen.

What I’ve been making.

I made a little reel on my Instagram page making one of my slab built butter dishes for the exhibition. Please take a look here!

The Gallery is housed in a restored 18th Century barn, the Gallery at Waterperry Gardens near Oxford offers affordable, contemporary art and craft.

Opening Times

The Gallery is open every day and free to enter.

Easter – October 10:00am – 5.30pm
November – Easter 10:00am – 5.00pm

A white flower brick with etched terracotta flowers and displayed with real forget-me-not blue flowers. This piece is on display on a white table in the studio of sarah monk.

A cereal sized bowl held in the palm of a hand there's a spoon held in the other hand. Both pieces are white and terracotta with green splatters. The bowl has etched flowers a bit like daisies.

A white plate made by Sarah Monk. It has a pie crust rim and sgraffito etched daisies with wiggley stems.

Herefordshire Art Week: h.Art

by Sarah Monk | Aug 28, 2025 | Exhibitions, News, Pottery Studio Life

Eastnor Pottery Open Studios

It’s not to go until artists and makers all over the county open their doors for Herefordshire Art Week 2025. This marvellous Open Studios event takes place 6 – 14 September and involves 428 artists exhibiting in 138 venues and Eastnor Pottery is proud to be taking part once more!

What will I be exhibiting?

I’m making lots of slipware pieces inspired by nature, ceramic history and the softness of clay.

Wheel thrown cups, plates and bowls. Large flower bricks, aswell as some miniature ones too! They are constructed from soft slabs of terracotta clay.

Slips and colourful underglazes are brushed and splattered on my surfaces, building layers of decoration and colour. Sgraffito flowers are freely etched into the clay, making pieces pleasingly tactile.

In a nutshell – I make little pieces of art for the home, to use and cherish.

Who else will be exhibiting?

Jon Williams (aka my husband and fellow potter) will also be showing his interactive and decorative one offs constructed entirely from sections made on the potter’s wheel. Some pieces are intended to live outside, others are designed to be handled, shaken, tapped or submersed in water.

If there was a common thread through both of our work it would be the notion of playfulness, both in creation and fired outcome.

Inside the studio at Eastnor Pottery. To the front of the photo there are some freshly thrown cups and saucers made by Sarah Monk.

Large fresh pink peonies diplayed in an oval flower brick made by Sarah Monk. The flower brick is cream with bold painted blue flowers.

h.Art Opening times at Eastnor Pottery

We’re open 11am – 5pm throughout – come join us for a complementary cuppa and peruse our pots.

Introduction to the Potter’s Wheel Classes

Each morning at 11am, we’ll be running one of our very popular and entertaining Introduction to the Potter’s Wheel Classes. If you are interested in booking please tap the link!

We look forward to seeing you!

Sarah x

Shelves at Eastnor Pottery filled with the work of Sarah Monk Ceramics. A pottery mug hangs on a hook in the forefront, it's teal with drawn flower motifs, green handle and cream and brown inside. Set behind the mug there's an oval flower brick thats cream with flowers etched on the outside. It contains a display of small fresh flowers. There's a shelf above which contains from left to right, a large teal plant pot with big brown dots, a small green cereal bowl with small brown dots, next to this there's 2 cereal bowls; 1 yellow with etched flowers and the other white with etched flowers. on the edge of the picture there's a corner of a teal flower brick withy etched flowers.

A distant view of Eastnor Pottery as seen from Eastnor Triangle, in the centre of the village.

Find a Maker Week, December 2023

by Sarah Monk | Feb 15, 2023 | Exhibitions, News

Hello everyone. This week I been celebrating #findamakerweek on Instagram! Here I am in my studio at Eastnor Pottery, which I share with my husband and fellow potter Jon Williams (behind the camera).

Find a Maker is an online directory and community of professional crafts people & galleries. It’s run by the famous and well established Craft Festival team.

On Monday 4th December 2023, I chatted LIVE on Instagram with founder, Sarah James MBE. It can be found on the CraftFestival Instagram page here!

work in progress studio shot of slipware bt Sarah Monk Ceramics

Yellow slab built vase by Sarah Monk Ceramics with oxe eye daisies.

flower brick work in progress ata eastnor pottery by sarah monk

Talking of Craft Festival….. I shall be exhibiting with them again at Cheltenham from the 8th – 10th March 2024 Tickets can be purchased online nearer the time.

It takes place in the iconic Cheltenham Town Hall, Imperial Square, GL50 1QA

If you are coming to Cheltenham do come and say hello, I would love to meet you! 🙂

Sarah x

New Designs for Digital Craft Festival

by Sarah Monk | Mar 9, 2021 | Exhibitions, News

Here’s some of my most recent pieces for the Digital Craft Festival. Fresh out of the kiln this week are espresso cups, plates butter dishes, lemon squeezers and egg cups. I’m very pleased with the results!

brown dotty butterdish with green polka dot handleby sarah monk ceramics

lemon squeezer with brown dots by sarah monk ceramics

The Digital craft festival is an online event showcasing 150 international makers. This will include talks, demos and films. It takes place from the 26th – 28th March 2021.

shelfie of slab plant pot by sarah monk ceramics

blue and white dresser with new collection of colourful ceramics by sarah monk

teal flower brick with fresh flowers by sarah monk ceramics

As part of this event I will be running a virtual craft workshop on Saturday 27th March at 2pm. I will show you step by step how to make your own clay bug house and you can make along with me! No previous pottery experience is required.

The Digital Craft festival is going to be lots of fun and I hope you can join me!

I will be posting on my Instagram over the weekend too @sarahmonkceramics

#digitalcraftfestival

Sarah x

Digital Craft Festival

by Sarah Monk | Feb 24, 2021 | Uncategorized

I’m super thrilled to be taking part in the next Digital Craft Festival taking place from the 26th – 28th March 2021. I’ve enjoyed this event lots in the past….. it’s so lovely! A funfilled weekend of craft demonstrations, interviews and workshops on Instagram, Facebook and zoom. PLUS the opportunity to buy direct from the 150 selected designer makers, across all craft disciplines, from all over the world!

Crafts Festival founder, Sarah James spearheads the interviews in the run up and during this event. I’m really looking forward to getting involved!

terracotta clay pots waiting to be decorated with slip in the studio of sarah monk ceramics

The Digital Craft Festival is an opportunity I would ordinarily have to pass on, what with the 3.5k class participants that pass through the doors each year at Eastnor Pottery. Now the Studio is currently closed to visitors I have more time to focus on my own work. I’m launching lots of new designs in my shop especially for the event!

slab built butterdish work in progress in the studio of sarah monk ceramics

work in progress studio shot of slipware bowls decorated with bold brown dots by sarah monk ceramics

slab built olive plate work in progress with cobalt splatters

I can’t wait to take part in the Digital Craft festival and I hope you can join me!

I will be posting on my Instagram over the weekend too @sarahmonkceramics

#digitalcraftfestival

Sarah x

New designs at Contemporary Ceramics Centre

by Sarah Monk | Nov 10, 2020 | Uncategorized

My new designs are on display at Contemporary Ceramics Centre, the only retail Gallery in London specialising exclusively in British Studio Ceramics.

I have two new collections on show until the end of December 2020:

Breakfast Ware consisting of querky espresso cups, wobbly looking egg cups and an interesting collection of cereal bowls. The image above is a slipware cheesedish most definitely the biggest pinch pot item I have made!!

Bathroom Ware consisting of hand built ceramic soap dishes of varying shapes and sizes, including my popular soap pillows and a selection of hand thrown toothbrush mugs.

4 egg cups with real eggs and two espresso coffee cups in slipwarte by sarah monk ceramics

a selection of ceramic bathroom ware by sarah monk ceramics

C

The Gallery is run by the Craft Potters Association, of which I have been a selected professional member for over 25 years. They set it up as a ‘benchmark for current practice in studio ceramics and with regularly changing display’ It’s always possible to purchase a wide range of work from functional tableware to individual collectors pieces.

My new designs can be purchased from their own online shop here!

I was invited by Contemporary Ceramics Centre to write about my design process on their blogspot which can be viewed here!! It’s titled ‘In Conversation with Sarah Monk’.

I hope you like my new designs…. I shall be adding some to my own shop soon!

espresso coffee cup by sarah monk ceramics

contemporary ceramics centre website blogspot about sarah monk ceramics

brushed green soap dish with fever few flowers stuck in the top

Instagram Giveaway

by Sarah Monk | Nov 5, 2020 | Uncategorized

I’m a big fan of Instagram, it’s so visual. It’s a great platform for all creatives and small artisan businesses to show products and connect with like minded people.

I made such a connection with Chaaboo.com , makers of handmade vegan soaps and solid shampoos. I was enchanted by their Instagram feed and very pleased to see that they are based in Moreton-on-Lugg, Herefordshire, just half an hour from me. Having been obsessed with making ceramic soap dishes for a couple of years, I’m always on the look out for artisan soaps. So I gave them a follow!

I admit, Instagram Giveaways aren’t part of my business strategy but when Chaaboo asked, I couldn’t refuse! Collaborations are great and anyway, I love their products! We arranged to meet at my studio to discuss the strategy and how we would move the idea forward. I invited Chaaboo to choose a soapdish from my studio shop collection and they offered to photograph it with their soap bars, create the Insta post and send the prizes to the lucky winners!

hand made ceramic soap dish by sarah monk and soap by chaaboo

circular slipware soap dish in white and teal by sarah monk ceramics

side view of sarah monk circular soap dish with three soaps by chaaboo

The Giveaway went really well. Some very happy winners and a few new Instagram followers on the way!

I would definitely consider doing another promotion sometime. If you have Instagram you may want to give us a follow, who knows when our next promotion could be!!

@sarah_monk_ceramics & chaaboo_com

Good luck & best wishes,

Sarah

the bottom of a crcular soap dish signed by sarah monk artists signature studio pottery

Article in Clay Craft Magazine Issue 40

by Sarah Monk | Sep 30, 2020 | inspiration, News, Pottery Studio Life

Lovely article in Clay Craft Magazine!

Ceramic journalist Paul Bailey writes about how I got into ceramics and the current everyday running of my Herefordshire studio. Paul delves into the courses and workshops and the inspiration behind my most recent designs.

Clay Craft Magazine is jam packed full of inspiration for potters as well as providing simple projects for all abilities. Such a lovely vibrant magazine!

Thank you Clay Craft and a big thank you to Paul for writing it!

You can find my proflie article in Issue 40 and it’s titled ‘Surrounded By Ceramics’.

slipware cup handmade spoon and biscuit plate by sarah monk ceramics plus clay craft magazine font cover

holding a slipware cup with tea inside and holding magazine article

scribble hand thrown teapot by sarah monk ceramic

When I recieved my copy, I settled down in the corner of my studio with a nice cup of tea, a few biscuits and had a good read!

I have now ordered a subsription and look forward to receiving it regularly!

Time for teapots!

by Sarah Monk | Jun 25, 2020 | inspiration, Pottery Studio Life

Teapots are the ultimate pottery skills challenge…. I must say, I have a love hate relationship with the processes involoved! The prospect of making another teapot is always exciting but, they take a long time and it’s a balancing act. The different componants must fit together perfectly. As the first picture below illustrates, there’s a spout, the main body and a lid, these are all hand thrown as seperate componants. A hole is cut out and the spout attached. Lastly it needs a handle. All of these bits and pieces need to be placed correctley. It’s really important for a teapot that pours well, is comfortable to hold and look fab!

hand thrown teapots at the assembling stage wheel thrown by sarah monk ceramics

slipware teapot with fruit lid by sarah monk ceramics

Once all parts are assembled and I’m satisfied it will feel good my attention turns to the character of my teapot. Teapot making gives me a great oppotunity to have fun. I look at the teapot from all angles, taking into consideration it’s shape and size. My most recent designs have splashes and splatters of colour and lively sgrafitto drawing. Designing a lid is most special, just like putting a topper on a wedding cake! The finishing touch.

My first set of teapot designs were bright yellow! (see below) I have made quite a few querky teapots over the years. They’ve have ended up in lifestyle magazines, ceramics books and museum collections.

yellow earthenware teapot with red fruit design made by sarah monk 1995

yellow pottery teapot with green bugs hand thrown and decorated by sarah monk ceramics

Slipware hand thrown teapot & teacups by studio potter sarah monk made at her pottery studio eastnor pottery ledbury herefordshire

Featured in this blog are my most recent designs. Teapots just like these can be found in my online shop. I only make 2 or 3 a year and they go very quickly!

Contemporary Ceramics Centre

by Sarah Monk | Jun 9, 2020 | Exhibitions, News, Pottery Studio Life

Throwback to June 2018, I was dragging a suitcase of my most recent slipware across London…

Contemporary Ceramics Centre had invited me to exhibit and I was excited to meet the staff again. ‘Ceramics Centre’, as it’s also known, is run by the Craft potters Association (CPA) of which I have been a member for over twenty years. It’s the only retail gallery in the whole of London that specialises in British Studio Ceramics.

sarah monk delivering her work to contemporary ceramics centre with a wheelie suitcase

a selection of sarah monk ceramics on a display table at contemporary ceramics centre

I was taking part in the makers rotation, which changes every three months. This is such a great idea as there is an ever changing selection of work by CPA members. It was a great opportunity for me to showcase and develope a whole new range of breakfast ware that I had been developing. I wrote all about it on the Contemporary Ceramics blogspot.

Here are a few pieces I selected to send at the time!

Photo credit: Kirsty Pye

slipware hand thrown slipware cheese dish with cheese and fruit

hand thrown slipware colander bowl with fresh peaches plus a slipware pottery spoon oin blue and white

a stack of three slipware bowls in white and terracotta slipware with some fresh radishes

I have been invited back January 2021. It’s a fab gallery with longstanding, friendly & very knowledgeable staff, it’s well worth a visit! The Gallery is opposite The British Museum on Russel Street!!

They can be found on Instagram Facebook & Twitter

New designs!

I’m really looking forward to it!

Opening Times

The Gallery is open every day and free to enter.

Recent Posts