Designer, maker and trained researcher, Dr Katie Bunnell is a creative practitioner who combines digital and physical processes in the production of ceramic art and design. Katie graduated with a first class degree in 3D Design (Ceramics) from Bristol Poly in 1989, completed an MA in Ceramics & Glass at the Royal College of Art, London in 1993, where she was a Darwin Scholar, and was awarded a doctorate in 1998 for her practice based research thesis, The Integration of New Technologies in to Ceramic Designer-Maker Practice. Until 2015 she was Associate Professor of Design at Falmouth University where she created Autonomatic, an award winning design research collective exploring the relationships between craft making and digital technologies.
Katie is committed to supporting and developing ceramic making practices locally, nationally and internationally and is currently working as curator for the Whitegold Project in St Austell where she is responsible for delivering the Whitegold International Ceramics Prize and Brickfield, a community brickworks in a disused China clay pit. Whitegold is part of the Austell Ceramics, the creative branch of a broader regeneration project for St Austell, and drawing on its china clay heritage to create an international centre for contemporary ceramics. To find out more go to austellproject.co.uk
Katie’s work has involved collaboration with programmers, technology developers, design historians, cultural geographers and many other creative thinkers and doers. In 2017 she collaborated with Dr Steve Brown, senior tutor and digital ceramic print researcher at the Royal College of Art, London is the Captured Collection, a series of plates and bowls commissioned by jeweller Mirri Damer.
Working out of her studio at Grays Wharf in Penryn, Cornwall, Katie exhibits her work nationally and internationally. The Chogonka Series and Minecrafting Vase have recently returned from the Re-Invented exhibition, a touring show in the USA and has been on display with new work at The Penwith Gallery in St Ives.
All the work that can be seen on this website is available for sale. Some pieces are available via the online shop, and for others prices are available on request. Please get in touch if you are interested in commissioning a unique tableware collection – all bespoke projects are individually costed.