Creative Inspiration

Mudlark Aotearoa is a family collective managed by Victoria Grouden. Victoria comes from a long line of artists and crafters and, like many other family members, is never long without feeling the urge to make something. She has worked with leadlight glass, glass and ceramic mosaic, fabrics, leather, sterling silver and ceramics. She combines a love of the natural world with a love of old things, and her pieces are hugely inspired by what she finds and documents in her other life as a professional archaeologist. She is an inveterate rescuer of antique lace tablecloths and old doilies, and loves to give them new life by using them to make moulds for her jewellery and homeware.

Materials and Techniques

The Mudlark Aotearoa collection includes ceramic jewellery as well as ceramic homewares and a small range of leatherware. As well as using gorgeous, commercially prepared glazes, many of the tableware and jewellery pieces are decorated with hand-prepared glazes and coloured clay slips. These are either combed and trailed on wet clay slabs or mould-cast with hand-prepared clay slip. These are inspired by the old mocha slip and slip diffusion techniques Victoria encounters in her archaeological work. Additional textures and surface patterns are created using hand-made clay press moulds and hand-made and commercially made, vintage slip casting moulds. Ceramic pieces are made from a range of local and imported clays (stoneware, porcelain, black and white earthenware) and from hand-made porcelain casting slip. Leatherware is made from recycled sofa leather and decorated mainly with stencilled Permaset heat-set screen printing inks and lined with recycled fabric.

There is a lot of joy in making these pieces and we hope that you have much joy in using them!