UK-based ceramicist Lisa Stevens – A.K.A. Lisa Sea Urchin – has made a second career out of her fondness for hand-sculpting creatures found at the bottom of the sea. She has always been influenced by the textures and shapes of nature, but her colors are all fantasy. Her pieces range from small-scale sculptures to bowls to wall tiles and even to jewelry pieces, and I find them all just darling.

Stevens is an interesting artist. She began her career as a sculptor for the world-renowned claymation studio Aardman Animations, reserving her little sea-related pieces as a hobby. Her joy in making these personal pieces eventually led her to focus exclusively on them, time-consuming though they are.

“I work from my small home studio near Bristol Airport in the UK, taking inspiration from coral reefs, flowers, geology, moss and lichen. Most of the work is made of high-fired porcelain clay, which can be translucent when held up to the light. Wall sculptures and bowls are small scale, delicate and decorative, often the creamy white of pure unglazed porcelain, or vibrantly coloured using stoneware glazes, underglaze or melted glass. The intricate patterns are not created using stamps, texture sheets or moulds, instead I use a variety of small tools to build up the textures. This is a time-consuming process, but the end results are crisp, organic and each piece will be truly unique.”

In addition to making fabulous things, Stevens also has a YouTube channel featuring hand-sculpting ceramics techniques. They really are fascinating to watch!

You can see all of Lisa Sea Urchin’s beautiful ceramics on her website and on YouTube and Instagram.