In the heart of the Bohemia Quarter in St Leonards is The Mudworks, owned and run by Chantelle Duncan and Isabella Campi.
Meeting the pair for the first time, the first thing that strikes you is the obvious connection they have. The story of their meeting is quite extraordinary; a serendipitous collision of two people at the right time and place, leading to the creation of a pottery studio that has one of the best atmospheres I’ve experienced.
I began by asking about their individual backgrounds.
Chantelle: “I did pottery when I was young; my mother had a friend who was a potter, and I did ceramics as my end of year piece for A-level. I moved on to music – I’m a professional musician. But when I moved to Crouch End in 1995, I met Romilly Graham, who ran the pottery course at the Crouch End Art School. We became instant friends; she taught me everything I know, basically, apart from my mother’s lovely friend Frances Wilson, who now pots up in the Shetlands. I potted at Romilly’s for about 13 years before my husband and I moved here.
“I couldn’t find anywhere to pot. Vanessa Fowler, who has a small studio here and used to teach at Sussex Coast College, closed her ceramics school six months before I moved down, which was such a shame. It was 2018 when Common
