house of clay
Where Clay
Meets
Creativity
At house of clay, each ceramic piece is a story crafted in the heart of London by
Anna Maria Bounie and
Cory Learer.
Our handmade artworks are not just decor; they are unique expressions of creativity and artistry, perfect for discerning collectors and those seeking something truly special.
Gallery
Anna Maria Bounie
Urchins collection
Cory Learer
Porcelain fibre
Anna Maria Bounie
Hand decorated dishes
Cory Learer
Desert collection
Anna Maria Bounie
Cube collection
Cory Learer
Nature / Human nature collection
The artists
House of clay is a ceramic studio and gallery in Hampstead, North London, founded by artists Anna Maria Bounie and Cory Learer. The studio brings together two complementary practices, spanning sculptural and functional ceramics from refined porcelain to textured stoneware. Rooted in craftsmanship and experimentation, house of Clay is both a working studio and a space for collaboration, dedicated to the slow, tactile process of making and the lasting value of handmade objects.
Anna Maria Bounie
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Anna Maria Bounie was born in Southern Italy, where she studied painting at the Art Academy in Bari. She later graduated in English and Spanish Literature from the University of Bari and completed a Master’s degree in English Language at University College London (UCL). Her interest in linguistics led her to establish a translation agency in Italy and eventually brought her to London in 1997, where she worked for several years as a translation and project manager in a design company.
After many years in the United Kingdom, London’s vibrant energy, creativity, and cultural diversity inspired her to return to her first love: art, and ceramics in particular. She studied ceramics for three years, achieving a distinction in her Level 3 Ceramics Course. Together with a group of fellow students, she co-founded a women’s collective pottery studio at the London School of Mosaics in Camden.
Her early ceramic work was shaped by her surroundings in Hampstead, near the Heath, where the dialogue between nature and the urban environment became central to her practice. This influence is evident in her cube sculptures, which convey an urban character through the use of black clay and buff, punctuated by cuts, perforations, and subtle tonal variations that echo the textures of London’s streets.
Over time, her work evolved to reconnect with her Southern Italian roots, particularly Puglia, her birthplace. References to regional traditions and landscapes emerged, including surface patterns inspired by traditional Puglian lace-making and forms drawn from the Mediterranean coast. Her Sea Urchins collection reflects seaside experiences in Puglia and the meditative rhythm of the making process.
Expanding on these coastal themes, her recent work transitions from purely sculptural exploration into high-end tableware and functional vessels. By translating the distinct, highly textured patterns of the Sea Urchins collection onto everyday objects like hand-built plates, bowls, and pourers, she aims to bring a highly tactile, sensory experience to the dining table. Each functional piece balances utility with the raw, meditative rhythm of the sea.
She also works with porcelain as a surface for drawing, depicting fragments of the natural world — flowers, plants, insects, and organic details — through fine, understated mark-making. These pieces introduce a quieter, more intimate dimension to her practice, focused on observation and atmosphere.
Her functional work — plates, mugs, bowls, and pots — is entirely hand-built, predominantly in stoneware, and balances use with careful attention to form and detail. Across both functional and sculptural pieces, her work reflects a commitment to craftsmanship, material sensitivity, and individuality
Cory Learer
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Cory Learer is a London-based ceramic artist creating sculptural and functional works in hand-built stoneware and porcelain. She holds a BA (Hons) in History of Art and, before establishing her ceramic practice, built a career in hospitality and the arts. After working in hospitality and events management, she joined Nora Gallery, where she was involved in exhibition curation, marketing, and artist relations. She later became Events and Exhibitions Coordinator at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, a cultural centre hosting exhibitions, conferences, concerts, and lectures, where she coordinated exhibitions at the Dwek Gallery alongside its wider cultural programme.
Following her relocation to London, where she continued her career in hospitality, and after a period devoted to raising her family, Cory returned to her passion for art and discovered ceramics, a material whose physicality and expressive potential became central to her practice. She completed a three-year course, achieving Distinction in Level 3 Ceramics.
During her studies, Cory met fellow ceramic artist Anna Maria Bounie. Together, they co-founded a women’s collective pottery studio at the London School of Mosaics in Camden and later House of Clay in Hampstead, a shared studio and gallery space for their individual practices.
Among other influences, Cory’s practice is informed by her maternal family’s roots in the Algerian Sahara, a region known for its traditional rug making. Taught to knit by her grandmother and mother, she developed a lasting connection to fibre crafts and hand-making.
Working intuitively across various materials, clays, and ceramic collage, Cory creates sculptural and functional works that explore what remains through use, making, and time. She is drawn to the ability of materials to hold traces of memory and transformation: porcelain translates inherited textile traditions into minimal, thread-like forms, while stoneware captures texture, erosion, and the passage of time.
Her porcelain yarn pieces transform knitted and crocheted structures into delicate ceramic forms, intentionally reversing the relationship between strength and fragility. Her textured stoneware forms and tiled compositions draw together landscape, archaeology, and domestic objects, incorporating fossil-like impressions of the natural and human worlds and exploring how traces of change are preserved in physical form.
At the heart of her practice is a fascination with the traces people leave behind. Time is not simply a theme but a force that shapes objects and memory. Through clay, everyday materials, gestures, and references are transformed into forms shaped by persistence, erosion, and time—objects that become witnesses to human presence, material change, and the relationship between people, nature, and making.
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