Lydia Hardwick

Lydia Hardwick graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2013. Primarily working with clay, her practice spans across the fields of art and design. From tableware to densely patterned pots, Hardwick’s work appeals to the viewer’s visceral senses. Using surface techniques such as inlaying and slip decorating, her working methods are meditative and intuitive, developed through an understanding of materials gained over years of working with clay.

Lydia is drawn to patterns and motifs found within ancient craft objects and textiles, made by communities that attributed great expressive power to visual things. Intrigued by the mysterious formal vocabulary of folk geometry, she combines a myriad of making traditions with influences from European art and design to produce work that aims to reconnect us to an ancient appreciation of line, surface, tone and texture as presences unto themselves.

In 2016 the Victoria and Albert Museum purchased one of her designs for their permanent collection. As an artist educator, she has undertaken educational projects with the Royal Academy of Arts, Whitechapel Gallery, Camden Arts Centre and Turner Contemporary.