An interview with London-based ceramicist Alma Berrow.

After moving to my new apartment, the wishlist of non-essential home goods that I genuinely needed to bring some personality into my new home exploded. I remember one day when looking for cool ashtrays for my warm-up party, I bumped into Alma Berrow’s ceramics, whose satirical vibe and youthful pieces immediately caught my eye, inviting me to discover her beautiful world of oddities.

We talked to the London-based artist about how her project has evolved since the lockdown, her collaborations with other creatives, and her past and upcoming shows at Timothy Taylor Gallery and Galería Hilario Galguera in Mexico City.

Georgina: You got started with ceramics during the first confinement at your mom’s studio, who is also a talented ceramist. What motivated you to start creating your own pieces?

Alma: My mom is a ceramicist and all of my family is very creative, however, I just stayed far away from ceramics to try to find my own art, so I studied fashion. I never really played around with ceramics until the first lockdown, when I quit my job and got stuck in London. I had all of these boxes of fabrics and stitching from years of collecting stuff and I was thinking that I could finally be able to use them. For the first time in a while, I had the time. I was actually planning to make myself a suit and I wanted to make buttons for it. I wanted to make cigarette buttons made of ceramic. That’s how it all started.

Georgina: I find it very interesting how you first started creating tiny versions of body parts when experimenting with ceramics. Where does this inspiration come from?

Alma: What I really enjoy about my journey is that, as I hadn’t worked with ceramics before and as I had never been formally taught, I was limitless. Nowadays, I look at these miniature body parts hanging in my studio and I’m like, what the hell was I thinking?!

And I have no idea! I’ve been trying to think about where that idea came from, somewhere in my weird brain. Probably there’s a sort of joy in the miniature things, for the same reason as doll houses. When I was little I remember the food of my doll’s house, as well as the miniature furniture and stuff like that. Maybe it was from Bratz dolls and Barbies.

Georgina: Ashtrays, matches, food, and backgammons are some of the imagery we frequently see in your work. What meanings can we find behind them?

Alma: The backgammon boards came because I made them for my boyfriend’s birthday. We got to know each other and we fell in love over backgammon. It’s one of my favorite ever games.

The ashtrays were a continuation of the buttons. My stepbrother and I always joke about those sexy lighters and how we wanted to do a project portraying all of our family's local jokes. I made him one in ceramics and I think that all just sort of grew from there. My first ever work was the tiny body parts and the matchbox. And then my weird retro delights which I think all of those were nostalgic things you associate with. Those were my first inspirations and then, from that, I grew and evolved. Now I’m much more into making gallery shows and whole scenes or sets.

Georgina: During the pandemic, lots of people found time and inspiration to start their own creative projects (this is actually how We The Cool Magazine was born), but as soon as everything started slowly coming back to “normal” most of these beautiful ideas were abandoned. How has it been for you to keep this project alive?

Alma: I think I’m incredibly lucky. Obviously, the pandemic was terrible and awful for a huge amount of families but what it gave me was a moment in time when I could stop. A moment where I wasn't worried about the fact that I had to pay my bills. I was able to delve into my creativity, to finally start to create again and my boyfriend pushed me to post it on Instagram to show people what I was doing. It really gave me an opportunity or kind of a sabbatical moment to be able to stop, be creative, delve into that world, and play. But it has been a hard move because even though I have been working in something that is essentially a hobby, for the last two and a half years I’ve been working nonstop. I’m loving and enjoying it but I've invested so much energy into it, that I’m now getting to a point where I have to accept that “this is my way of life.” But for me, saying this and entirely enjoying it, makes me think that I need to get other hobbies because my hobbies now are becoming my paycheck. I’m definitely finding a balance which hasn’t been easy.

Georgina: It doesn’t seem to! Last year, your work was featured in “IRL: In Real Life” which was your first participation in a big collective show at Timothy Taylor Gallery in London. Can you tell us more about this experience?

Alma: That was crazy! That was my first group show and the first gallery show I’ve ever done. And with Timothy Taylor, an incredible gallery, it was a complete dream! It was also amazing to be able to create something of that size as it was the largest collection of work that I did. It was 60 pieces on the table. Pulling that together in my studio, imagining what it would look like in the space, and then, putting everything on the table. I remember seeing it all and thinking, “Wow! I did it, and it looks as good as I dreamt it.” That was a really special experience and it was really nice to be sitting with other artists. I definitely experienced the intruder’s syndrome after starting all these in lockdown and then suddenly finding myself with all these artists who studied for years. I respect them and I love their work but also being able to talk to them and hearing what it was like for them in lockdown and their studio experience was definitely a huge learning point.

Georgina: What role has social media played in your relatively short but massively growing path as a ceramist?

Alma: It has played a huge role for me because it was a way to show my work to people who were sitting at home on their phones looking for stuff and putting a lot of energy and thought into their home, buying art and making it look beautiful. I think that the nostalgia of my work was a fantastic sort of marriage of people supporting and waiting to buy stuff for their house.

Georgina: How have you merged your work with fashion? Can you tell us more about your recent fashion collaborations?

Alma: I did a collaboration with my friend Bonne who owns a company called Bonne Suits. He basically gives artists some suits and they get to decorate them how they want. I did all the buttons and I did a little embroidery on them. It was really fun to play in a completely different medium. I suddenly felt really comfortable doing fashion. I’m not uncomfortable but it definitely pushed me out of what I’ve been doing, and that was good.

I’m working as well with a girl called Ellie Mac at the moment who does the most beautiful embroidery. We did a collaboration together creating some tablecloths, napkins, and patches which were also inspired by my work. It’s amazing to see your own work in someone else’s hands through a completely different medium.

Any upcoming projects you would like to share with us?

I’ve got an upcoming show in Mexico City this year in October for Galería Hilario Galguera.

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