Nina Wright - Ceramist
Meet Nina Wright, local ceramicist based in Otley in West Yorkshire who kindly took part in our On Your' Feet project in 2024/25.
I bought a beautiful plate from Nina at Otley Sunday Market last year and feel joy every time I get it out to serve Welsh cakes or bake a tart in it. You'll bump into Nina walking to the local greengrocers for her groceries, working with the local Galleries to display and sell her ceramics and stood on her stall at the local Sunday Market come rain or shine. Doing, walking, standing, conversing, making, being part of her local community.
I love that I bought it directly from the maker and that it was made just a couple of miles away from me.
I love the colour and pattern and the depth that means I can use it for serving or baking.
I love that it has been fired in a way that although it's unique, I can still use it in the oven and put it in the dishwasher.
I love how vibrant it looks on table filled with dips and bits or the surprise you get when as the waves show through at the bottom when you remove that first slice of blackberry tart.
I love that no one else has one exactly like it (I often get compliments on it).
And most of all I love that I know the care and time Nina spent making it.
We were privileged to go and hang out with Nina and her family at her home pottery studio in August, finding out more about her and her work and enjoying the space.
Nina hangs out hand-throwing and moulding her pieces in the old washing shed of her beautiful Victorian house, a stone throw away from the River Wharf in Otley. It’s a calm and quiet space that incites creativity and I daydreamed about spending time in there on a summer day with the door open and the bees buzzing.
You’d have to be a hardy Northerner to brace the midwinter chills out there mind, either that or someone who just really loves what they do.
Nina’s sheepskin slipper of choice is Cadi. Ankle coverage when bracing Northern temperatures is essential and in the colour red – creative and positive like the woman who wears them.
Nina completed a BA (Hons) in Ceramics at North Staffordshire Polytechnic (now Staffordshire University) in Stoke on Trent, following the Leach (St. Ives) tradition, then taught ceramics for 20 years, before qualifying as a psychotherapist.
You can meet Nina at Otley Sunday market that takes place on the last Sunday of every month or find out more about Nina and see her work at
Nina - Northern Potter (@ninawrightceramics) • Instagram photos and videos
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