How our items are made

Each Ardmore creation begins with a moment of inspiration – it could be an early morning walk along a misty river, an afternoon game drive in the Sabie wilderness, or watching the antics of a bird in the Ardmore Studio garden. The seeds of an idea are sown – as they so often are in Africa – by a serendipitous meeting between Nature, an enquiring mind and an artist’s eye.

The idea is discussed in the studio, where Fée and the Ardmore artists tease out the essential elements of the story, and start sketching ideas.

Each Ardmore ceramic piece is a collaborative process – from the design sketches, the sculptor or thrower will begin to mould the clay. Fantastical beasts and foliage take shape in skilful hands, before the finished piece is fired in our kilns and allowed to cool.

Deft brushstrokes add colour and bring the art works to life. Thus, each ceramic art work has at least two parents – a sculptor and an artist.

Traditional African wisdom asserts that it takes a village to raise a child; at Ardmore, we know that it takes a community to hold Ardmore together, "we are because of others" is truly a central tenet of Ardmore.

Similarly, each Ardmore Design fabric pattern tells a story and is often the work of many hands, from initial pencil sketches which are then hand painted in the finest detail before being turned into graphic designs and then printed onto the final designs.