At the edge of York’s city centre, just five minutes from the train station, Kate Semple’s home studio opens onto a small courtyard garden. The old coach house behind acts as a sound buffer, and the surrounding townhouses create a stillness that’s rare in a city.
“My home studio here in York is a calm space,” says Kate. She works between rooms - the kitchen, the dining room, the courtyard if the weather allows - moving fluidly between clay and paper. There is a kiln in an old bike shed, and shelves lined with bisque ware. Upstairs, the utility room doubles as her packing area.
Kate’s routine begins early, often before the house stirs. “I’m an early riser, especially at this time of year when the sun arrives so early, and the birds are nesting in the jasmine crawling up to our bedroom window,” she says. “I like to start thinking about current projects while the house still sleeps. I drink lots of black coffee until the middle of the day, then maybe go to meet a friend or break off in the late afternoon for a swim.”
The path to becoming a full-time maker was a cathartic one. Kate began building large vessels in clay while caring for her mother and mourning the loss of her father. “Not with any focus, more as a way of coping,” she says. At the time, she was working in the TOAST store in York. “Ceramics had always been in my life, though only really through evening classes,” she says - her background was in graphic design and illustration. “I've been making vessels with paper and clay for almost two years now. My work has never felt so authentically me.” Childhood memories thread through her practice: she reminisces about vessels made by her aunt at art school, her father’s turned wood, and her mother’s eclectic ceramics collection. “I think to me, vessels symbolise home.”
On her table now are paper maquettes, painted card and collections of reference material. “They are full of snippets of paper, collaged together for surface pattern and texture references.” These elements inform the series of 120 paper vessels Kate has created for TOAST shop windows to celebrate its Autumn Winter 2025 concept, The Curious Mind. The pieces are inspired by Giorgio Morandi’s still lifes and the warm tones of the current home and lounge collections. “I wanted the smaller groups of three to really sum up the warmth - I called them turmeric, cinnamon and dusty rose.” she says. “Pumpkin seed and cornflower” were added as accents. She describes the forms as “slabby,” with straight lines and angles that echo other pieces from TOAST’s homeware collection.
Kate will also be making vessels as part of TOAST’s new Slow Sunday series, a monthly gathering centred around relaxed creativity. At the Harrogate shop in July, Kate will host a drop-in session where she’ll demonstrate how to turn scraps into beautiful forms. “I’ll be sharing how I utilise waste paper and card to create something new, alongside miniature maquettes of the pieces in my latest collection.”
Her making process focuses on instinct. “I collect brown paper bread bags, and any other card or paper waste in the home,” she explains. “Then I look at what I have, see what inspires and calls to be developed into something new.” She layers with glue and paper mâché, then finishes with household paint. “I’m not trying to hide the paper - I want to see the torn edges and the natural patterns in the material that the placement creates.”
Kate’s time as a TOAST New Maker - the brand’s programme offering support and mentoring to emerging makers - in 2024 offered new perspectives on production and repetition. “I learnt through the repetition of forms and surfaces, and found the most challenging aspect was getting the same consistent glaze throughout a year,” she says. The opportunity also gave her space to evolve. “It was a wonderful opportunity to explore making production pieces, from a small bowl to a large vase.”
The emotional resonance of her vessels is tied to light, shadow and the subtle interactions between forms. “I tend to think about groups, as I’m interested in interactions, shadows, composition and the way the light falls on each piece.” There’s a visual language in her work that seeks quiet moments of connection - a nod to the idea of a mid-century ateliers which she so admires. “We have the largest collection of studio pottery here in York at the Art Gallery,” she says. “Mo Jupps’ figurative ceramics resonate with me... it’s the elongation of form which I hope to capture with my tall slim bottles. These might lean a little, adding a sense of the human form.”
Workshops have become a way to share what is often instinctive. “It’s about sharing ideas - and all of our ideas are so different,” she says. “My takeaway from showing up for workshops is that it’s a very positive experience, and while you’re connecting with others and sharing skills, you develop your craft by communicating what is often unsaid.”
In quiet moments, over black coffee or paper scraps, new forms begin again. “My work is explorative and curious,” she says. “Most of the time I’m playing.”
View Kate Semple’s pieces in our shop windows until Sunday 31 July.
Kate wears the TOAST Graph Check Mulmul Shirt.
Words by Alice Simkins Vyce.
Photography by Aniella Weinberger.
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