Ceramicist Fern Taylor takes a holistic approach to craft. With a fine art background, she brings a painter’s eye to her pottery, while her passion for knitting has spawned inventive and unexpected uses of clay.
It is fitting, then, that her preferred method of working with clay involves bringing disparate elements into harmony. Nerikomi – the Japanese practice of layering different coloured clays before slicing through the combined body – reveals intricate, one-of-a-kind patterns formed within the material itself. Fern arrived at this time-honoured technique during lockdown. She had been taking hand-throwing classes in a nearby studio, but suddenly without a wheel, she began exploring hand building. “I really enjoyed the structure of building with nerikomi,” she says. “And I just never went back to the wheel.”
Unlike most nerikomi-based potters, Fern uses stoneware clay instead of porcelain – favouring its warmth and the way it holds colour. “All of the colours come from staining the clay,” she explains, “which can be very unforgiving.” To allow these contrasts and patterns to show through, Fern coats the structures in transparent glazes. Without a transformative finishing layer, the quality and imperfections of the clay are celebrated, not concealed.
For the TOAST Spring Summer 2026 collection, Fern has created two nerikomi mugs. Each features a grid-like pattern, achieved using contrasting coloured clay. As a self-described perfectionist, Fern went through a lengthy process of trial and error before landing on the right tones. “For the yellow and brown mug, I wanted to make sure the yellow wasn’t too bright.” The other piece, slightly slimmer in form, drew inspiration from a patchworked quilt she had come across, with checks of varying sizes stretching across the fabric. “I pictured the blue being kind of like a worn denim. It was a few weeks of tweaking by tiny percentages of colour to get the right shade.”
For Fern, creative concepts spring from surprising places. It might be a knitting pattern she translates into clay – the intarsia technique sparked the idea for her series featuring nerikomi swans – or the view from her London studio. The shared space overlooks the Thames through generous windows, making the flow of seasons and fluctuations of weather an ever-present companion as she works.
“When I first moved in, it was really sunny, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be so nice, to look out over the blue sky and river,’” she recalls. “But it's also lovely when it's raining, because you can watch the textures on the water.” Her interactions with the city, more broadly, are also expressed through her pieces. “Sometimes I pass someone on the street and notice the beautiful colour of their jumper, then I'll spend the whole day trying to recreate it.” Her camera roll is filled with photos of pavements with interesting formations, or the placement of tiles framing a doorway.
But no matter how abstract the initial inspiration, the resulting piece is always grounded in function. “I collect a lot of small, decorative sculptures from holidays, but I went to that first ceramics class because I loved the idea of creating something I could use,” she says. “I've always enjoyed going out and finding a piece I love, then going home and using it.” She takes pride in inviting people over, and setting the table with a mix of her own creations and ceramics she has collected from other makers. “I think having and using nice objects has a real influence on a person’s surroundings.”
Fern wears the Hickory Stripe Denim Jacket and Hickory Stripe Denim Wide Leg Trousers.
Shop the Fern Taylor Nerikomi Mug and Fern Taylor Nerikomi Wide Mug.
Words by Bébhinn Campbell.
Photography by X.
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