About Chloë

I create tactile porcelain tableware. Craftsmanship and attention to detail are paramount in my work.

Every element of design has been considered to stimulate and heighten the user’s experience of the piece. The work is wheel-thrown and then altered. I add a spiral in the soft clay, then make an indent where the handle will go. This allows for stimulation of the sense of touch and makes the mugs very comfortable to hold. I indent a line into the handles intended as a texture for the thumb to explore. The rims of the mugs are thrown thinly which is crisp and pleasing for the lips. The base of each piece is individually polished leaving the translucent porcelain soft to the touch. The glossy glaze compliments the curves and echoes the use of liquid. I employ a soft, contemporary colour pallet reflecting the subtleties of colour I see within my environment. I mix the glazes by hand to recipes I have created specifically for these pieces.

“Chloë Dowds’ white porcelain tableware is quiet and contemplative. Thrown on the
wheel and gently altered, every element of the design has been carefully considered;
from the elegant rims and gentle indent on the handles to the finely polished bases.
However, when taking a bird’s eye view of her mugs, jugs and containers, the mood
changes and we encounter liquid-like glazes in pastel shades of blue, green, yellow
and pink. In juxtaposing the understated with a glossy colour palette, Chloë Dowds is
playing with the idea of interior and exterior, of looking inside to discover something
new and fresh.” Frances McDonald, Irish Arts Review Winter 2018

Chloë works from her studio in Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow on the east coast of Ireland. Her work plays on themes of interior and exterior. She works primarily with porcelain and has been experimenting with black porcelain since completing a residency at the Zentrum für Keramik, Berlin, 2017. Her grey vessels are thrown using a porcelain body that she has developed over time in her studio. There is incredible skill in making work that is simple yet strikingly elegant. This is the heart of her practice.

Dowds has designed porcelain giftware for internationally renowned ceramics company Villeroy & Boch as well as working collaboratively with Avoca to design and produce a range of porcelain tableware. She has also designed tableware for Dublin-based ceramics studio Arran Street East.

Dowds is a member of Ceramics Ireland, the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland, the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland’s Education Panel and the Teaching Council of Ireland.