NICHOLAS RENA
Nicholas Rena (b. 1963) studied Architecture at Cambridge University and Ceramics and Glass at The Royal College of Art. He makes powerful vessels with precisely finished and strongly coloured surfaces which refer to traditions of use that are almost lost: ceremonies or rituals involving vessels, such as baptism, anointment, invocation, blessing...where man and the material world are fused. Reflecting on his work he has written: In a world dematerialising into an anti-physical one of text and images, of speed and noise, they sit heavy, thick and still. Material trying to be as palpable as it can, reproaching a world going virtual.

His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, amongst others.