Chris Keenan
Chris is an accomplished ceramicist with many years of experience working primarily in porcelain. His practice centres on creating finely thrown, functional vessels that combine clarity of form with subtle surface qualities. Alongside his studio work, Chris has taught extensively, sharing his technical expertise and thoughtful approach with students at all levels. His teaching style is supportive, practical, and focused on helping makers develop both skill and personal expression.
Chris has been making pots for thirty years. His journey began in late 1995 as Edmund de Waal’s first apprentice, working alongside him for two years and learning techniques that continue to inform his practice—though now honed with greater skill. Since 1998, Chris has worked in his own studio, sharing the space for the past 22 years with Brazilian potter Carina Ciscato.
All of Chris’s work is thrown and turned on the wheel, using porcelain as the clay of choice. His glazes are predominantly tenmoku and celadon, often combined—a deliberately restricted palette that nevertheless continues to offer fresh possibilities. The pieces are reduction-fired in a gas kiln.
Chris creates work for interior spaces, both functional and decorative: mugs, cups, teapots, pourers, beakers, lidded pots, and vessels for flowers. At times, he ventures into what he describes as “extra-curricular” work—series or groups of ceramic forms less tied to function, often with interactive qualities. Recently, he has been developing lines of pots under the name of vistas or “scapes,” which carry a visual narrative across the group.
He exhibits widely across the UK and internationally, with works held in the permanent collections of institutions such as the V&A, the Ashmolean, and the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art in Japan. Chris has undertaken residencies in both the UK and Japan and has been teaching in the UK and abroad since 2011.
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