Isabel de Cordova works with ceramics and mixed media, often up-cycling unloved vintage items into handmade pieces. She has a good eye at antique fairs and markets for hunting out objects, such as chandelier droplets that she incorporate into her designs. She enjoys soaking up the atmosphere from places she has lived in and traveled to particularly India, Asia and Europe and come home visually stimulated and full of fresh ideas.

Over the years she has collected eclectic items such as vintage wallpaper rollers, Indian printing blocks, textiles and trims, metal castings, and a few trade secrets which she uses to apply pattern, giving her pieces another layer of interest. Nature is also an endless source of inspiration for colour, shape and texture – lichen, seed pods, shells, pebbles, shadows and reflections, the list is endless.

Her favourite clays to work with are white and black stoneware for the different moods they evoke and porcelain for its transparent quality that lets the light shine through. She uses these to produce unique creations in limited editions and bespoke one of pieces – no two will be exactly the same.