If you've had the good fortune to dine at some of the best restaurants in Bristol within the past few years, then chances are you may have already been up close and personal with Alice Watkins' work. A ceramicist and visual artist from Greenbank in Bristol, Alice produces crockery that is sometimes abstract, often subversive but always sublime, which has proved popular with top restauranteurs looking to add a touch of high drama to their diners' experience.
It turns out that theatrical drama is something Alice is a bit of an expert in. Trained in fine art, she worked as a scenic artist for over 20 years, including a decade at the Royal Shakespeare Company, a job that allowed her to travel the world, from working on sets in China in the dead of winter to painting scenery in the humidity of jungle in Singapore.
When creating sets and props, Alice would use her artistic skills to help conjure up a designer's vision, both tricking and treating the audience's eye. One of the final commissions she did before the pandemic was a magnificent trompe l'oeil curtain for Bristol Old Vic's touring production of Cyrano, which got stuck in China during the pandemic but is now back and in use as the theatre's permanent front cloth.
The pandemic was particularly tough for Alice, not just because of the closure of theatres. She developed long covid, which left her too ill to even walk to a nearby studio space she had been using for pottery, a hobby she's enjoyed for around eight years. But it was working with clay, she explains, that eventually helped her to manage her illness.
"It was just for myself," she said, "So when I was really ill during the pandemic and I couldn't leave the house, I set up a studio in one of the bedrooms, like a teeny little thing. I just needed to keep creating and doing something with my hands.
"It really helped me forget about my symptoms. There's a very beautiful thing with ceramics that is very different from scenic art, your brain, your consciousness can sort of disappear. And you're just using your hands, and you're just creating this shape.
"It's really organic; your feet are on the floor, you've got a bit of mud in your hand and your body's able to take over. And then that was just like a catharsis. It was literally just what was going on in my head."
Before being ill, Alice said she didn't tend to draw or use patterns on her ceramics. But after a plate she made bearing the slogan 'F*** off covid' caught the eye of the owner of Michelin green-starred restaurant Wilson's in Redland, she was commissioned to make a set that would reveal the sentiment to diners as they finished their food.
The Michelin-starred Casamia, which closed last year, followed suit with Alice producing similarly irreverent but completely distinct dishes with a monochrome geometric pattern. She's now busy working on a new set for Wilson's as well as a large commission for Birmingham based The Wilderness, frequently ranked as the best restaurant in the Midlands.
To fulfil the orders, Alice has recently built a studio at the bottom of her garden, where she can potter in peace, but says the process of these unique projects is particularly enjoyable for her. She said: "I love the element of collaborating with restaurants, I get to have this relationship with people and it's like a two-way conversation. It's not me going, 'This is what I've got to offer.' I just love the back and forth. It's just perfect for me and makes up for the solitude.
"I just find it really interesting and exciting. It pushes me in new directions, and it sort of opens up a whole world of opportunity and discovery. That's what I loved about scenic art, and that's what's wonderful about working with restaurants because it's just so similar; you're facilitating someone's vision, but each one is different.
"It may be they've seen something that they like, and they'll ask, 'Well, can we have it a bit more like this? Can we change the shape a little bit? So it fits this dish a little bit better? Can we alter the pattern a little bit?'
"But that's just the starting point; I'm always keen to push the envelope. So like, with the Wilderness, we're looking at doing some quite sculptural pieces, stuff that isn't a bowl or plate at all. Something that's more like a prop."
A bonus of the job is that Alice gets to visit the restaurants. She said: "I am lucky enough to eat in restaurants because it all informs the making, seeing what their vision is, experiencing the restaurant, being in their environment, witnessing the foods. It's a really big part of it. I consider myself to be quite a hardcore foodie, as well. It's just incredible."
As well as commissions, Alice sells some of her wares at Burton in Bideford, Devon, and a striking array of designs on her online shop. Discussing the diversity of styles she embraces, Alice said: "I've just got so many ideas always bursting out of my head. I was very aware when I first started making that you can compartmentalise yourself so that you've sort of got a brand.
"But for me, I see them as different canvases. I just have to do whatever I feel like I want to do rather than trying to pigeonhole myself and commercialise myself. You know, I don't really want to sort of be sort of churning out 500 blue mugs."
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