Though only thirty-one, Guthrie came to pottery relatively late. She began working as a project manager for an exhibition design company in London. “I worked on some amazing exhibitions”, she says, and tells me about various collaborations with the V&A and Somerset House. “But my heart was never fully in it. It was like I was always searching for something else.” When she started pottery four years ago – taking night classes at The Kiln Rooms in Peckham – she knew she’d found it.
Guthrie’s style is distinct. Petite forms that are elegant and sculptural, resembling organic shapes and the patina of rock formations. She looks to the landscape for inspiration and describes how she “needs the land” and will drive, each week, with a friend to a nearby loch. “I love the feeling of being in the water – I think part of me is aquatic,” she laughs.
In her short time as a potter Guthrie has amassed a great
deal of experience. A few years ago she undertook a two-month apprenticeship
at the Wurtz pottery in Horsens, Denmark. The large pottery – known for it’s strong, weighty
forms and beautiful textures (they look like the surface of the moon) – sits
between vast stretches of agricultural land, in a disused fire station.
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