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​Sol y Luna, London is an online shop which is a collection of hand-built ceramics by Mary Newstead alongside other old artefacts plus vintage and new finds, all with a hand made element.

 

Mary Newstead aka Sol y Luna London is a home studio potter and maker with a horticultural background.

 

Mary's path has been an interesting mix of work in the the creative worlds of contemporary art and the music business.  In 1999 she took a different direction and began to study garden design at The English Gardening School based at The Chelsea Physic Garden where she gained two diplomas.  In 2003 she won a Silver Medal for a small garden she staged at The Chelsea Flower Show.  Until 2019 she was working as a garden designer.

 

In 2015 Mary enrolled on a part-time pottery course at The Putney School of Art & Design.  In 2019 she was so smitten with her new found love of making ceramics, she took the plunge and invested in an electric kiln and a small garden studio.  

A keen collector of old and interesting artefacts and curios, she is always on the lookout for anything that can be used to enhance her pottery like old stones, shells & ancient ammonites (some of which are millions of years old).  When impressed into damp clay they add texture to her work and by re-purposing old finds in this way the marks they leave add a sense of history while also giving the relics a new lease of life in the decoration.  A Brocante Shop also comes under the Sol y Luna, London umbrella and here you will find other curious and general brocante, usually with a hand-made element to continue the hand-made mission all curated by Mary. 

 

In her words ....

 

"I take inspiration from ancient techniques like folk art, tile making and even architecture.  The textures and patterns I use are often drawn from vintage fabrics, wallpaper and Mother Nature.  I don't agonise over perfection - a wobbly line or an inconsistency is, after all, the appeal of hand-made ceramics.  When I decorate my work I let the contours of the vitrified clay dictate the direction of my hand when making my marks.  But what I do agonise over is what shall I make and what colour will it be?   I love colourful pottery and particularly the Majolica style of decorating but I am also drawn to less colourful, more earthy colours and techniques.   Both very different looks.  What a dilemma!

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Sol y Luna is the abstract name I chose for my collection because I like its soft rhythm when spoken and because the sun and moon are themselves antiquities - that something so old can still be a constant in our modern world appeals to my love of objects and of their history.  When I chose the name I also felt that it fitted well with my work which is both sunny and colourful and dark and sultry. 

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Sun & Moon .... because we can't live without them!"

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Mary Newstead AKA Sol y Luna, London 

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Email contact: solylunalondon@yahoo.com 

Instagram: @solylunalondon