About Nicola Briggs

Elevate Your Space with Nature-Inspired Handmade Porcelain Ceramics and Abstract Landscape Paintings.

Nicola Briggs is an Artist and Ceramicist based in Manchester, UK. She completed a BA(Hons) Design: Ceramics Arts Degree from Staffordshire University in 1998 and set up her first studio with the help of The Princes Trust. During this time Nicola also painted and sold work at galleries.  After a break to raise her family and after various jobs, Nicola returned to making in 2016, building a new garden studio for her ceramics and more recently a painting studio in a nearby mill.

Nicola’s artistic journey is a reflection of the ever-changing beauty found in nature. Inspired by walks through landscapes that shift with the seasons, her work captures the essence of weather’s transformative dance. In her acrylic paintings, she employs a dynamic range of techniques – from atmospheric layered washes in muted tones that echo the subtleties of nature to expressive mark-making, incorporating drips and scratches that evoke the organic forces shaping our environment creating an emotional connection of well-being and relaxation , encouraging you to be present in nature. 

As a ceramicist, her hands mould porcelain into vessels that embody the essence of the natural world. Layered glazes create depth, each brushstroke mirroring the intricate layers of earth’s tapestry. Relief textures further enhance the tactile experience, inviting viewers to explore the interplay of form and surface. This dual practice in painting and ceramics converges, offering a harmonious narrative of the landscape that inspires – a visual symphony echoing the ever-changing rhythms of nature. 

Embodying her interpretation of Japanese Wabi-Sabi aesthetics, which are that there is beauty in the imperfect, by making organic shaped work that is ‘perfectly imperfect’ there also may be marks and differences as a result of individually handcrafting each piece.