photo: Vladimir Jedlicka

Tamsin van Essen is a ceramic designer living and working in London. A graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, she specialises in conceptual design and has recently been using the medium of ceramics to explore scientific and medical themes. Her work sits at the interface between art and design, with one-off collectables and conversation pieces.

Recent Press Coverage

Vivre à Limoges - July 2011
L'Echo de la Corrèze - 22 June 2011
Ceramic Review - Nov/Dec 2010
Science - Vol 329 Issue 5993 13 Aug 2010
The Lancet - Vol 376 Issue 9736 17 July 2010
New Statesman - 9 June 2010
Medical Journal - Vol 340 No 7761 26 June 2010
Design Week - 6 May 2010
Diseño Interior - Issue 211 Feb 2010
The Montreal Gazette - 26 Oct 2009
Voir Montreal - 8 Oct 2009
Ceramic Review - Sept/Oct 2009
The New York Times - 26 Sept 2009
Dolce Vita* - August 2009
Elle Decoration (Romania) - July/Aug 2009
The Times - 14 May 2009
The Independent - 10 May 2009
Evening Standard - 6 May 2009
Elle Décor (Italia) - May 2009
BMA news - 18 April 2009
ES Magazine - 20 March 2009
Art & Antiques - March 2009
BHMAdeco - Issue 16 Feb 2009
Haute (Korea) - Dec 2008
Frame - #65 Nov/Dec 2008
Crafts - Issue 215 Nov/Dec 2008
Pottery Making Illustrated - Nov/Dec 2008
Design Report - Issue 4/08
Arts Thread - Issue 1 Sept 2008
a-n Magazine - 27 Sept 2008
The Prague Post - 10 Sept 2008
Mf DNES Praha - 6 Sept 2008
Alternativa Magazin - July 2008
A2 Kulturni Tydenik - 23 June 2008
Mix Future Interiors - Issue 10 Trends 08/09
Halo - Issue 5 2008
Bloom - Issue 17 2008
Casa Life Design Magazine - Dec 2007
Financial Times - 8 Dec 2007
ICON - Issue 053 Nov 2007
Frame - Oct 2007
The Pharmaceutical Journal - Vol 279 No 7471 29 Sept 2007
Design Week - 5 Sept 2007
Evening Standard - 4 July 2007

Education

2010-2012: MA Ceramics & Glass Royal College of Art, London
2007: BA Ceramic Design (1st) Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London
1998: BA Physics & Philosophy (2:1) Balliol College, Oxford University

Awards

Wellcome Trust Design for Science competition (second prize) 2007
Chartered Society of Designers Student Design Award 2006
William Atkinson Scholarship, Central Saint Martins 2006

Commissions

Waddesdon Manor (illustrations of Sèvres porcelain) 2011
Wellcome Collection (ceramic apothecary jars) 2010
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (ceramic apothecary jars) 2009
Crafts Council UK (ceramic artwork) 2008
House of Fraser UK (lighting design) 2008
Tina B. Prague CZ (bone china lighting installation) 2008
Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum London UK (Syphilis jar) 2007

Other Projects

KithKin Conceptual design collective, virtual studio and ideas factory
Working Title Design newspaper published daily during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan 09 and London Design Festival 2009
Material+ Material-led collaboration with Staatliche Hochschule fur Gestaltung Karlsruhe
Atoms to Art Art-Science symposium series and network