Juliet Ball

Juliet Ball grew up in England, but  her training in ceramics started in France in 1990 at the C.N.I.F.O.P. (Centre National d’Initiation, de Formation et de Perfectionnement de la Poterie et du Grès) in the Puisaye in Central France, an area renowned for its tradition of pottery making, and formerly the major stoneware producing area of France. She then worked at the well-established Poterie du Carbassou in Southern France before setting up her own workshop in the Pyrenées Orientales.

Juliet moved to Ireland with her family in 2005 and established, “Cloonmore Pottery” near Moycullen, Co. Galway,  where she continues to develop her range of functional ash-glazed stoneware and glazed porcelain while also experiments with smoke-firing techniques.

Juliet’s work remains firmly grounded in the traditions of functional pottery, drawing inspiration from diverse sources, such as Japanese ceramics, Chinese and Korean porcelain, and Amerindian and Portuguese black-fired ware. All of her work is hand-thrown and hand finished. She makes her own glazes from natural raw materials and fires in reduction in a gas kiln.