Teachers

A bit about us…

Sophie Southgate

Sophie founded The Clay Room UK in 2016 after deciding to make a career from clay. She manages the studio, teaches courses, workshops and some private lessons, as well as specialist workshops in mould-making and slip-casting. She works as an artist and is represented by Ten Cardiff.

Sophie began working with clay in 2006 at Bromley Adult Education Centre, and went on to study Ceramics at Cardiff School of Art, graduating in 2014 with a First Class BA Hons. That year she won a full scholarship to study at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina in the summer. Sophie spent a year as a Graduate Resident at Fireworks Clay Studios in Cardiff. In December 2015 she was shortlisted for the Confessions of a Design Geek Bursary. Her work has been selected and exhibited in Darkroom London, Selfridges, The Barbican Shop, Snug Gallery, and Fortnum and Masons.

In the Spring of 2017 Sophie was accepted onto the Crafts Councils Hothouse program and she won the FutureLights in Ceramics Prize alongside 5 others.

Sophie completed a Masters in Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art in 2023, and was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust Scholarship, as well as the Griffin Scholarship. She now includes cast glass as part of her practice. She was awarded a Corning Museum of Glass Partner Scholarship, as well as The Glass Prize in 2023, and was awarded a funded place at Hangzhou Craft Week in China in 2024. She has exhibited her glass at the British Glass Biennale 2024, The RA Summer Exhibition 2024 and The Affordable Art Fair 2025.

Cat King

Cat began teaching Art in Schools in 2001 . Predominantly self taught, she developed an interest in clay after searching for an alternative to building sculptures in paper and mixed media. Through working with clay, Cat has developed her sculpting and fine detail skills. Her work combines multiple hand-building methods to create complex forms. She has a particular interest in using illustration and surface design in her work, as well as experimenting with different decorative applications. Cat finds inspiration in literature and poetry, proverbs, nature and pattern.

Cat is the Clay Room’s studio manager, coordinating with teachers and studio assistants to help keep everything running smoothly. She teaches classes on Mondays and Thursday mornings, as well Clay Taster Workshops and private lessons and Summer Short Courses and Sculpture Courses.

Emma Marks

Emma Marks is a clay thinker, ceramic vessel maker and art educator. She uses vessel making as a device to reimagine the ways we understand the making act and our relationships with the world around us.  Her installations offer the viewer new encounters using hand-built ceramics, sound and film. 

Emma currently teaches ceramics as a visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire; she recently ran pottery workshops at Wilderness Festival 2022 and assists with the Clay for Dementia Group at The Garden Museum, London. 

Emma has an MA in Ceramics from the Royal College of Art, a BA in Sculpture from Camberwell College of Arts and a BSc in Physiology from the University of Bristol.   She has taken part in several artist-led shows since 2012.  Selected exhibitions and awards include the Charlotte Fraser Ceramics & Glass Shortlist at Holt Festival 2022; Caroline Fisher Projects in Norwich and London 2021, Cabinet of Curiosities at the Design Museum 2021, The Potting Shed Residency at Fulmer Sculpture Park 2021, East Sussex Open at Towner Gallery 2016, HIX Award Finalist 2015, Penguin Art Prize 2015.

Emma teaches Wednesday evening classes as well as some Private Lessons.

Lucile Faist

Lucile Faist is a ceramic artist and educator who has spent over a decade in education, beginning her career as a passionate language teacher working with learners of all ages, from primary school children to adults. Her journey into ceramics began in 2018 when she took a pottery course at Southwark Adult learning and instantly fell in love with the craft. What started as a creative pursuit soon became an integral part of her life, leading her to transition her career fully into ceramics.

Lucile’s practice is inspired by nature—its organic shapes, shifting colours, and the way light dances across surfaces. She is predominantly a hand-builder, drawn to fluid, organic forms that reflect the natural world. Teaching remains at the heart of her work, and she finds immense joy in guiding students, witnessing their confidence grow, and celebrating their "light bulb" moments as they develop their skills.

By combining her expertise in education with her passion for ceramics, Lucile creates a welcoming and inspiring space where learners can explore, experiment, and find their own creative voice.