Cabby Luxford Ceramics
2026 – Taking part in Potfest in the Pens – Melton Mowbray and Potfest in the City – Glasgow
Cabby creates evocative smoke fired ceramics inspired by the shifting tides and silent histories of the River Thames. As a licensed mudlarker, she spends time exploring the river’s foreshore, uncovering weathered fragments of metal and wood — remnants shaped by time, tide, and human activity. These found materials often make their way into her work, subtly added or influencing form and texture and patina.
These found materials are carefully selected and incorporated into her pieces, becoming sculptural elements that extend the narrative beyond the clay itself. They speak of both decay and endurance, grounding each vessel in the material memory of the river.
Working both with wheel thrown and hand-built forms, Cabby embraces the raw, organic beauty of smoke firing — a technique where fire and smoke become active collaborators. Each piece emerges from the firing bearing unpredictable markings: soft veils, ghosted textures, and dramatic contrasts that echo the atmosphere of the riverbank.
Words are another quiet layer in Cabby’s practice. Often pieces are handwritten with poetic fragments, fleeting thoughts or relevant script. During the firing process, these words may disappear, change colour or resist the flame — a poetic nod to memory and erosion. What remains is never quite what was written, but always part of the story.
Cabby’s ceramics are more than objects; they are quiet conversations between earth, fire, and water — between past and present. Drawing from the Thames as both muse and material source, her work speaks of what we leave behind, what the river returns, and the beauty found in what endures.