The act of making with Rock Garden Ceramics

On Scarcroft Road, a short walk from Bishopthorpe Road in York, Studio by Rock Garden ceramics occupies a modest green-fronted space with a hand-painted sign. From the street, it often appears quietly active with  warm light and people gathered around a rustic table. It is not immediately clear whether you are looking into a studio, a gallery, or a café — and that ambiguity is intentional.

Studio by Rock Garden Ceramics is part studio, part exhibition space, part place to pause with a coffee. Founded by Zak and Lydia Cotton, Rock Garden Ceramics is best known for producing handmade tableware for Michelin-starred chefs and fine-dining restaurants across the UK. Their work appears in kitchens including The Black Swan at Oldstead and has featured on MasterChef: The Professionals and Great British Menu. This newer space, however, shifts attention away from where their work ends up, and towards how it is made.

The programme of workshops, exhibitions, and events hosted at the studio resists the idea that ceramics — or craft more broadly — should feel distant or exclusive. Instead, the emphasis is on access, visibility, and participation: making as a shared process rather than a closed one.

That ethos is embedded in the physical space itself. Built entirely by hand, from the bar and shelving to the cups and ceramics in use, the studio uses reclaimed materials where possible and works exclusively with independent, UK-based suppliers. The result is a space that is deliberately functional rather than overtly polished — designed to support workshops, small exhibitions, and informal gatherings that welcome both locals and visitors.

Following a strong opening period of exhibitions and consistently full ceramics workshops, the studio’s first exhibition of the year, The Act of Making, brings these values into focus. Rather than presenting finished objects, the exhibition transforms the space into an active production site.

From 9 January to 9 February, Lydia brings her chef commission work into the shopfront, throwing, trimming, and preparing ceramic vessels as part of a live making cycle. Over four weeks, visitors encounter work in progress.

And while this is somewhat a performance, there is no performative framing here. The work unfolds as it normally would, with the quiet repetition of skilled labour at its centre. Except here, Lydia is able to interact with locals and visitors alike while she works, making her usual calm and solitary process into something a little more communal.

“It’s been lovely talking with people as I work. Normally, it’s just me and the dog in the studio, surrounded by ceramics. But during the live exhibition, I’m talking, seeing friends and locals,” Lydia told us. It’s clear just from our morning with the duo that community is at the heart of everything they do.

During this exhibition, tableware destined for professional kitchens is produced in the open, allowing the processes behind functional ceramics to be ‘seen as they happen’, as the duo so aptly put it themselves..

In this way, The Act of Making avoids both romanticising craft and obscuring it. Ceramics are presented as learned, technical, and iterative — shaped by time, use and sustained attention. The exhibition reflects Rock Garden Ceramics’ wider belief that clay and creativity should not feel inaccessible, and that understanding comes through proximity.

After the exhibition closes, production will return to Rock Garden’s main studio, and another local artist will take up residence in the space. The cycle continues. Drawing inspiration from Yorkshire’s landscapes — its crags, coastlines, and overlooked details — Zak and Lydia’s practice remains rooted in texture, process, and place. Those qualities are evident not only in the work they make, but in the studio they have built around it.

You can follow the Studio here to find out more about future events and workshops.