Tommaso Corvi-Mora on Ceramics, Studio Pottery, and the Gallery as a Creative Forum

Tommaso Corvi-Mora (b. 1969) began his art career early, opening his first London gallery in 1995. In 2009 he enrolled in an evening ceramics course at Morley College and became a practicing ceramist, adding ceramics—especially British studio pottery—to his gallery program from 2013. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions, and in 2017 he was included in Phaidon's 'Vitamin C: Clay and Ceramic in Contemporary Art'. Corvi-Mora identifies as a ceramist rather than an artist, valuing dialogue with the studio pottery tradition and the functional, tactile nature of ceramic objects. He cites influences from ancient Greek pottery to Japanese ceramist Rosanjin, and works with porcelain, terracotta, and stoneware, using both custom and premixed glazes. As a gallerist, he champions artists like Julian Stair, Alison Britton, Sam Bakewell, Adam Buick, and Shawanda Corbett, whose work engages with ceramic history. He sees the gallery as a forum for creativity, resisting its reduction to a luxury boutique. His next exhibition will feature Shawanda Corbett, an American artist based in England whose work combines ceramics and performance, referencing 3rd-century BCE Greek pottery.