Linda Bloomfield makes hand-thrown tableware distinctive by its satin glazes and subtle colours. She is primarily concerned form and surface texture, making simple shapes, rounded teapots and bowls, cylindrical bottles and mugs. Their surfaces have traces of throw lines and dimples, in which the glaze will pool and 'break'. This allows the hand of the maker to be present in all her work, elevating functional ceramic-ware into a daily pleasure for its owner. Linda mixes her own glazes, as she feels her understanding of the chemistry is vital to the process of making.
Lindas most recent collection of ceramics were from Oxford Anagama. She says,
'I fired them together with a team of 12 potters working through the night in four-hour shifts for three days under the guidance of Svend Bayer and Brigitte Colleaux. The anagama kiln was built by Svend Bayer on the Oxford kiln site at Wytham woods, run by Robin Wilson of the anthropology department at Oxford University. The wood was a mix of ash and pine, from dead and diseased trees cut by the foresters in Wytham woods. We camped at the kiln site and enjoyed walking in Wytham woods in between firing. My porcelain pots have various slips and glazes, including flashing slip, ash glaze, chun and celadon. The colours come from the soluble salts from the burning wood and fly ash carried on the flames through the kiln.'
Linda has made collections for David Mellor, Harrods, ABC Home New York, Jamie Oliver's restaurant Barbecoa, the Albert Hall's Café Bar and Liberty of London. She works from her London studio, and shows her work in shops, galleries and exhibitions both nationally and internationally. She has published several books and articles on glazes, and teaches at West Dean College in Sussex.