Screen printer Hannah Carvell is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design for a creative family to live in. See the rest of her articles here.
Last winter I stepped well outside my comfort zone and, rather reluctantly, agreed to have a stall for my screen-printing business at a Christmas fair. The thought of putting myself out there honestly filled me with dread, but a friend twisted my arm and, on a cold November morning, I arrived with boxes of prints and greeting cards to set up my table.
As it turned out, it wasn't nearly as terrifying as I'd imagined. In fact, I rather enjoyed spending the day chatting to other makers and customers. But the real reason I'm grateful I went had nothing to do with selling screenprints.
I kept finding myself drawn to a beautiful pottery stall filled with hand-painted mugs and plates. The potter, Joanna Lampley had a badge pinned to her apron that simply read, "Ask me about pottery classes."
So I did.
I've haven’t done another fair since (they're definitely not for me!), but I've always believed that stepping outside your comfort zone has a funny way of leading you somewhere unexpected. Sometimes it's meeting new people, sometimes it's opening a door to a work opportunity (or TV show) or maybe a favourite hobby you are now hopelessly addicted to.
I signed up for one term of pottery classes as a little treat to myself. Every Friday afternoon, for two blissful hours, I head to the pottery studio to spend time with the same lovely group of women and our wonderful teacher, Joanna. Without question, it's become my favourite part of the week. We make whatever we like and we chat and drink coffee, sometimes it feels like therapy as much as an art class.
Pottery is the perfect antidote to our fast-paced lives because nothing about it can be rushed. One week you're shaping a lump of clay, then it needs time to dry before its first firing. After that comes glazing, another firing, and finally, weeks after you first began, you get to hold the finished piece in your hands.
As someone who spends much of my working life surrounded by colour through screen printing, glazing has become my favourite part. It still feels like magic. You never quite know how the colours will react in the kiln or what beautiful surprises will emerge.
When I first started, I imagined I'd be confidently throwing elegant bowls and mugs on the wheel. Two attempts quickly taught me otherwise. Wheel throwing requires a level of precision and concentration that my brain simply doesn't seem to possess!
Instead, I've fallen completely in love with hand-building. My bowls, mugs, platters and plates may be a little wonkier than those made on the wheel, but I think they're all the more charming for it. Each one is unmistakably handmade, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I've also developed a habit of rescuing leftover scraps of clay that might otherwise end up back in the recycling bucket. They become little birds, mushrooms and curious creatures that now live happily around our garden pond.
I've made a bird bath, a wonderfully wonky mug for my daughter painted with her two beloved goslings, trinket dishes for my husband's bedside table, and a fruit bowl that now takes pride of place in our kitchen.
The joy isn't just in making them, it's in living with them. Every handmade piece around our home tells a story. The fruit bowl reminds me of a Friday afternoon spent experimenting with glazes. My daughter's mug makes me smile every time I see her using it. Outside, my growing collection of colourful ceramic creatures peeks out from the wild Erigeron daisies lining the stone steps to my print studio.
Those pieces have become part of our home's personality. They sit happily alongside quilts I've sewn, curtains I've made, paintings, family photographs and the wonderful creations my children have proudly brought home over the years.
None of it is perfect, but that's exactly the point. In a world where it's so easy to buy something new with the click of a button, there's something deeply satisfying about filling your home with objects you've made with your own hands. They might be a little wonky, a little imperfect and completely unlike anything you'd find on the high street, but they're full of memories.
Every time I look around my home, I'm reminded that creating something purely for the joy of it might just be one of the loveliest ways to make a house feel uniquely yours.
