Photograph by Helen Cathcart
Celia Dowson is a UK based artist working with ceramics and cast glass primarily focusing on the vessel. Her work is an exploration of fluidity and form, looking at how materials can express physical forces and reflect characteristics of the natural environment. Across both mediums, she applies a design and material-led process that combines traditional techniques with material experimentation and tool adaptation. This approach creates unique textures and a sense of movement within her work through her development of form, colour, and translucency.
The finished pieces become contemplative objects, sanded and polished to reveal layered tones, depths of colour, and subtle surfaces that evoke atmospheric qualities. Through these artefacts, Celia reflects on the interconnection between people and place, and how materials can shapes our understanding and experience of the world.
Celia Dowson is a graduate of the Royal College of Art (2018), specialising in ceramic and cast glass. Prior to this she completed her BA Hons. (2014) in Ceramic Design from the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins. She has received a number of awards including a Bullseye Glass Award (2022 & 2023), Wallpaper* Design Award (2020), The Tom Helme Scholarship from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (2017). Dowson has worked closely with leading restaurants and partnerships including Petrus by Gordon Ramsay, The Grand Mandarin Hotels, The London Peninsular and John Smedley. Along side a design practice she exhibits across the UK and internationally and her work is included in three museum collections notably the Victoria & Albert Museum London, The National Museums Scotland and The New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum, Taiwan
Education
2016-2018 Royal College of Art – Ceramic and Glass MA
2011-2014 Central Saint Martins BA (HONS) Ceramic Design
2010-2011 Central Saint Martins - Foundation Diploma
Awards, Honours, Grants
2024 - British Glass Biennale Award: Best in Show
2024 - British Glass Biennale: Fielding Newcomer Award
2024 - TG: Transitions in Glass 1st Place Design Award, Bullseye Projects
2022 - TG: Transitions in Glass 2nd Place Design Award, Bullseye Projects
2021 - LCN Professional Development Programme, Cockpit Arts
2021 - The Michelangelo Foundation. Selection for the Homo Faber Guide
2020 - Wallpaper* Design Award 2020
2019 - FRANZ Rising Star Award
2018 - Charlotte Fraser Award
2017 - Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, Tom Helme Scholar
2017 - Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers, Tin Prize
Publications & Press
2024 - V&A Magazine, Spring 2024, p12
2024 - Homes & Antiques ‘Heirlooms of the Future’ p32-34 by Dominique Corlett
2024 - Country Living, Modern Rustic, p118-119 by Carol Atkins
2023 - Elle Decoration ‘Mood of the month’ Styled by Amy Hefferman.
2023 - Elle Decoration Styled by Sania Pell, January
2022 - Elle Decoration, Styled by Sania Pell, January
2021 - Country Life Magazine, Back to Natures Basics, by Jo Rodgers, May Sustainability Issue 2021
2020 - La Casa In Ordine, ‘l paesaggio in un vaso By Marta Santacatterina, 1 July 2020
2020 - Ceramic Review, Cremerging highlights, p.44 Issue 304, July 2020
2020 - Financial Times. From coppers to conkers, A review of Collect 2020 by Dominic Luytens
2020 - The Evening Standard. The fine art of craft, A review of Collect 2020 by Corinne Julius
2020 - Wallpaper* The Design Awards: Best Tinted Love, page 76, Feb 2020, UK
2019 - Seed Magazine, Shifting Tides, pages 54k57, Volume 01, UK
2019 - Christies Real Estate Magazine, Calm Collection, (featuring Rhossili in Soft Fuchsia), Dec
2019 - The Evening Standard Magazine, Interior Edition p39, 30.08.19
Residencies
2023 - The Byre Residency, Caithness with Bullseye Projects
2019 - New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Yingge, Taiwan (3 months)
2018 - St Paul's Boys School, Ceramic Residency
Museum & Private Collections
2025 - National Museums Scotland
2023 - Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2019 - New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan.
2019 - Bullseye Projects, Portland, Oregon, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 - British Glass Biennale
2024 - ‘What Remain’s’ The Byre, Caithness
2024 - Making Memories, flow Gallery
2024 - Toyama International Glass Exhibition, Japan
2023 - ‘Of Water’ with Maud & Mabel, London
2023 - ‘Atmospheres’ Duo Show with Flow Gallery, London
2023 - Collect 2023 with Flow Gallery, Somerset House, London
2022 - The Newcraftsman exhibition with Chloe Rosetta Bell, St Ives, UK
2022 - Gallery Nine, Summer Exhibition, Bath, UK
2022 - The Art of the Exceptional, QEST at Fortnum & Maison, London
2022 - Collect 2022 with Flow Gallery, Somerset House, London
2022 - TG: Transitions in Glass, Bullseye Projects, Bellevue Arts Museum, USA
2021 - Artefact, QEST, Chelsea Design Centre, London
2021 - New Horizons, London Glassblowing, London
2021 - Elemental, Lingwood Samuel Art Gallery, Surrey
2020 - Christmas Exhibition, London Glassblowing, London
2020 - Wales Contemporary, Waterfront Gallery, Wales
2020 - Young Masters, London Glassblowing, London
2020 - Sculptural meets Functional, Maud & Mabel, London
2020 - Moments of Reflection, Flow Gallery, London
2020 - Elements: air water Gallery 57, Arundel
2020 - Collect 2020 with Bullseye Projects, Somerset House, London
2019 - 2nd FRANZ Rising Star Project Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan
2019 - Future Heritage, Decorex International, Olympia, London.
2019 - Inspired, London Glass Blowing, Bermondsey Street, London
2018 - Collect 2019 with Bullseye Projects, Saatchi Gallery, London
2018 - West Bund Art Expo, Shanghai
2018 - China Craft Week 2018, Hangzhou
2018 - Royal College of Art, Ceramics & Glass Postgraduate Show, London
2018 - Exploring Porcelain, Maud & Mabel, London
2018 - Materialise, Private House, Kensington, London
2017 - The Emerging and the Established , Christies, London