MEADWARE ︎ PHIL ROOT ︎
MEADWARE ︎ PHIL ROOT ︎

PHIL ROOT
ARTIST LIMITED EDITION
Cygnet SQ, SE2 9FA
Meadware is a project by Bristol
based artist and ceramic researcher Phil Root. Commissioned to produce
functional works for use in TACO!’s new Cygnet Square space, Phil utilised
locally foraged materials to create a site responsive and circular approach to
ceramic production. Over a 12month period Phil developed new glazes and forms that
come from, and are inspired by, Thamesmead as a place.
Drawing from Thamesmead’s natural history as a marshland as well as it’s brutalist architecture, Meadware balances the ancient and modernist by making use of locally foraged shoreline materials from the Thames riverbank, including mud, plant ash, sea shell, and more modern materials such as road surfacing granite.
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The Meadware Standard glaze was developed using a Nuka glazing technique- a traditional japanese ash glazing that traditionally used burnt rice kernal husks. Phil’s Meadware Standard glaze incorporates all the foraged material and embody in its both form and its application, the flowing alluvial banks of the River Thames.
The first two works to be produced in the Meadware series are a Carafe/Vase and an Olive Bowl, both these works are produced for use in the TACO! space in our hosting and welcoming of artists, communities and audiences, and both the Carafe Vase and the Olive Bowl are available as editioned artworks from the TACO! shop.
Each individual edition is unique with its own variation in form & glaze , and are artist initalied on the bottom.
MEADWARE STANDARD GLAZE RECIPE
(CONE 10)
ROAD SURFACING GRANITE DUST 30%
NEPHELINE SYENITE 20%
SHORELINE GRASS ASH 30%
CALCINED SEA SHELL 10%
THAMES RIVER MUD. 10%
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Phil Root is an artists and ceramic researcher who lives and works in Bristol, UK. He has exhibited widely including nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include New Build, Broadway Gallery Letchworth (2020), These are the days my friends, Kupfer Projects, London (2019), Studio Show, Caraboo Projects, Bristol (2019). He also works collaboratively with artist Giles Round as Grant Chester Pottery and is an Associate lecturer at UWE.
Drawing from Thamesmead’s natural history as a marshland as well as it’s brutalist architecture, Meadware balances the ancient and modernist by making use of locally foraged shoreline materials from the Thames riverbank, including mud, plant ash, sea shell, and more modern materials such as road surfacing granite.


The Meadware Standard glaze was developed using a Nuka glazing technique- a traditional japanese ash glazing that traditionally used burnt rice kernal husks. Phil’s Meadware Standard glaze incorporates all the foraged material and embody in its both form and its application, the flowing alluvial banks of the River Thames.
The first two works to be produced in the Meadware series are a Carafe/Vase and an Olive Bowl, both these works are produced for use in the TACO! space in our hosting and welcoming of artists, communities and audiences, and both the Carafe Vase and the Olive Bowl are available as editioned artworks from the TACO! shop.
Each individual edition is unique with its own variation in form & glaze , and are artist initalied on the bottom.
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MEADWARE STANDARD GLAZE RECIPE
(CONE 10)
ROAD SURFACING GRANITE DUST 30%
NEPHELINE SYENITE 20%
SHORELINE GRASS ASH 30%
CALCINED SEA SHELL 10%
THAMES RIVER MUD. 10%
-§-

Phil Root is an artists and ceramic researcher who lives and works in Bristol, UK. He has exhibited widely including nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include New Build, Broadway Gallery Letchworth (2020), These are the days my friends, Kupfer Projects, London (2019), Studio Show, Caraboo Projects, Bristol (2019). He also works collaboratively with artist Giles Round as Grant Chester Pottery and is an Associate lecturer at UWE.