Photograph by Helen Cathcart

Celia Dowson is a London based artist working across ceramics and cast glass. Informed by movements in nature, her work reflects the colours, the changing light, and mystery of the natural world.

Within this practice, she explores the interplay between fluidity and form aligning with the transformative qualities of materials. Here she integrates techniques across the two mediums, disrupting traditional technical approaches through the adaptation of tools and processes, often shaping the distinct qualities and movements captured within her work. The finished pieces encompass the study of colour and translucency through gradation and opacity and light. Through these qualities her work creates a contemplative space to reflect upon the rhythms of the atmosphere, and our innate connection to the objects we use and spaces we inhabit.

As well as making work for exhibitions and private collections, Celia works closely with a number of restaurants creating limited edition ceramic and glassware. These include Pétrus by Gordon Ramsay, the Mandarin Oriental Palace in Switzerland and the London Peninsular.

Celia Dowson is a graduate of the Royal College of Art (2018), where she specialised in both ceramics and cast glass. Prior to this she completed her BA Hons. (2014) in Ceramic Design from the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins. She has received a number of awards including a Bullseye Glass Award (2022), Wallpaper* Design Award (2020), FRANZ Rising Star Award (2019) and the Charlotte Fraser Award (2018). She received the Tom Helme Scholarship from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, in 2017. Dowson exhibits internationally and her work is included in three museum collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Bullseye Projects, USA and The New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum, Taiwan.

Education

2016-2018   Royal College of Art – Ceramic and Glass MA

2011-2014   Central Saint Martins BA (HONS) Ceramic Design

2010-2011   Central Saint Martins - Foundation Diploma

Awards, Honours, Grants 

2024 - TG: Transitions in Glass 1st Place Design Award, Bullseye Projects

2022 - TG: Transitions in Glass 2nd Place Design Award, Bullseye Projects

2021 - LCN Professional Development Programme, Cockpit Arts

2021 - The Michelangelo Foundation. Selection for the Homo Faber Guide

2020 - Wallpaper* Design Award 2020

2019 - FRANZ Rising Star Award 

2018 - Charlotte Fraser Award

2017 - Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, Tom Helme Scholar

2017 - Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers, Tin Prize

Publications & Press

2024 - V&A Magazine, Spring 2024, p12

2024 - Homes & Antiques ‘Heirlooms of the Future’ p32-34 by Dominique Corlett

2024 - Country Living, Modern Rustic, p118-119 by Carol Atkins

2023 - Elle Decoration ‘Mood of the month’ Styled by Amy Hefferman.

2023 - Elle Decoration Styled by Sania Pell, January

2022 - Elle Decoration, Styled by Sania Pell, January

2021 - Country Life Magazine, Back to Natures Basics, by Jo Rodgers, May Sustainability Issue 2021

2020 - La Casa In Ordine, ‘l paesaggio in un vaso By Marta Santacatterina, 1 July 2020

2020 - Ceramic Review, Cremerging highlights, p.44 Issue 304, July 2020

2020 - Financial Times. From coppers to conkers, A review of Collect 2020 by Dominic Luytens

2020 - The Evening Standard. The fine art of craft, A review of Collect 2020 by Corinne Julius

2020 - Wallpaper* The Design Awards: Best Tinted Love, page 76, Feb 2020, UK

2019 - Seed Magazine, Shifting Tides, pages 54k57, Volume 01, UK

2019 - Christies Real Estate Magazine, Calm Collection, (featuring Rhossili in Soft Fuchsia), Dec

2019 - The Evening Standard Magazine, Interior Edition p39, 30.08.19

Residencies 

2023 - The Byre Residency, Caithness with Bullseye Projects

2019 - New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Yingge, Taiwan (3 months)

2018 - St Paul's Boys School, Ceramic Residency 

Museum & Private Collections

2023 - V&A Museum, London

2019 - New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Yingge, Taiwan.

2019 - Bullseye Projects, Portland, Oregon, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023 - ‘Of Water’ with Maud & Mabel, London

2023 - ‘Atmospheres’ Duo Show with Flow Gallery, London

2023 - Collect 2023 with Flow Gallery, Somerset House, London

2022 - The Newcraftsman exhibition with Chloe Rosetta Bell, St Ives, UK

2022 - Gallery Nine, Summer Exhibition, Bath, UK

2022 - The Art of the Exceptional, QEST at Fortnum & Maison, London

2022 - Collect 2022 with Flow Gallery, Somerset House, London 

2022 - TG: Transitions in Glass, Bullseye Projects, Bellevue Arts Museum, USA

2021 - Artefact, QEST, Chelsea Design Centre, London

2021 - New Horizons, London Glassblowing, London

2021 - Elemental, Lingwood Samuel Art Gallery, Surrey

2020 - Christmas Exhibition, London Glassblowing, London

2020 - Wales Contemporary, Waterfront Gallery, Wales

2020 - Young Masters, London Glassblowing, London

2020 - Sculptural meets Functional, Maud & Mabel, London

2020 - Moments of Reflection, Flow Gallery, London

2020 - Elements: air water Gallery 57, Arundel

2020 - Collect 2020 with Bullseye Projects, Somerset House, London 

2019 - 2nd FRANZ Rising Star Project Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan

2019 - Future Heritage, Decorex International, Olympia, London.

2019 - Inspired, London Glass Blowing, Bermondsey Street, London

2018 - Collect 2019 with Bullseye Projects, Saatchi Gallery, London 

2018 - West Bund Art Expo, Shanghai

2018 - China Craft Week 2018, Hangzhou

2018 - Royal College of Art, Ceramics & Glass Postgraduate Show, London  

2018 - Exploring Porcelain, Maud & Mabel, London 

2018 - Materialise, Private House, Kensington, London

2017 - The Emerging and the Established , Christies, London