Johanne Coker MSDC

Ceramics

About Johanne
Johanne works on the wheel with porcelain - a clay that both challenges and rewards. Its strength, translucency, and texture continue to fascinate, but it is the difficulty of working large that truly pushes her skills. She is especially drawn to making large forms that test the limits of both the material and her ability to control it. Each vessel becomes a physical and mental exercise in balance, timing, and precision. Surface treatments are minimal. Often unglazed or softly finished, the porcelain reveals its natural qualities and traces of the hand and process are left visible.
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Biography Back to top

My ceramics journey began 30 years ago in Singapore and I’ve been aiming to perfect my throwing ever since. I was fortunate enough to have training from Lisa Hammond at Maze Hill Pottery early on, and have continued to learn from a variety of professional potters. I set up my first studio in 2013 and in 2023, took the huge step of buying a wonderful space with a friend, which has allowed us to set up Hive Ceramic Studio.

I have always loved making things, taking huge pleasure from the process of creating, so my first lesson on a wheel was the discovery of something that I found completely absorbing and intensely satisfying. I work almost exclusively in porcelain, relishing the extra challenges it presents - from my first attempts, I was hooked by the beauty of the material and trying to master it became a huge passion. I particularly enjoy testing my skills, trying to throw bigger, wider, more precarious pieces and the new studio gave me the space to invest in a much larger kiln, allowing me to create the bigger pieces that I have always aimed for. Now, after years of testing, altering and reimagining, I feel that I have arrived at an individual style and am enjoying stretching myself within that style.

Resumé Back to top

Training

  • Initial training in ceramics in Singapore with Lim Meng Khuang.
  • Following a course at City Lit, part time training with Lisa Hammond at Maze Hill Pottery concentrating on throwing
  • HNC in 3D design (ceramics) at RHACC
  • Advanced Practice course at RHACC

Prizes

  • Runner up, St Helena Trust ceramics competition
  • Winner, London Potters Annual Makers Award 2022
  • Winner, Judges Award for Thrown Piece, London Potters Exhibition 2024

Gallery

  • Thrown Contemporary

Commissions

  • 70 piece commission for Kew Gardens in support of David Nash exhibition

Recent Exhibitions

  • London Craft Week Secret Ceramics (by invitation) 2025
  • London Craft Week Secret Ceramics (by invitation) 2024
  • Collect 2024
  • London Potters Annual Makers exhibition 2024
  • CPA York Ceramics Fair 2023
  • CPA Oxford Ceramics Fair 2022
  • London Potters Annual Makers exhibition 2023
  • Festival of Crafts, Farnham
  • Bedford Park Festival, Chiswick
  • Midsummer Fair, Kew
  • Advanced Practice final show, RHACC
  • Fire and Focus, RHACC
  • St Helena Trust competition show

Teaching

  • Level 3 award in Education and Training RHACC
  • Evening classes to small groups of adults, introducing them to the joys of clay through hand building
  • One to one throwing lessons teaching a 13 year old boy who hopes to make pottery his profession

Future Exhibitions

  • Artists at Home 2025
  • CPA Oxford Ceramics Fair 2025
  • London Potters Annual Members Exhibition 2025
  • Handmade Chelsea 2025

Memberships

  • Craft Potters Association
  • London Potters
  • Society of Designer Craftsmen
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