Where to Buy Ceramic Supplies in London
If you make ceramics in London, you will already know the problem.
You need materials. Not in a week — now, or soon, in the way that any working practice generates urgent needs. A bag of nepheline syenite. A stain you haven't tried. A trimming tool that's finally given up. And your options, until very recently, were: order online and wait three to five days, hope it arrives undamaged, and make do in the meantime. Or get on a train to Bath.
London has one of the most active ceramics communities in Europe. Turning Earth alone runs four sites. Independent studios have opened across almost every borough in the past decade. The Great Pottery Throwdown has brought a new generation of makers into the craft. And yet the infrastructure for buying ceramic materials — the unglamorous, essential business of clays, glazes, raw chemicals, and tools — has never caught up with the demand.
This article is an attempt to map what actually exists for ceramicists buying supplies in London. It is written by a maker who has felt exactly this frustration, and who opened a studio in Peckham partly because of it. I have an obvious interest in telling you about GLOST, and I will be direct about that. But I will also tell you clearly what else is available, because a ceramicist who understands their options is better served than one who doesn't.
Why ceramic supply in London has always been difficult
The reasons are mostly structural. Ceramic materials are heavy. Raw ingredients arrive in 25kg sacks. Clay comes on pallets. Kilns are large and expensive to move. None of this suits the economics of London retail, where space is expensive and margins on bulk materials are thin.
The result is that the UK ceramics supply trade has historically concentrated away from London: Bath Potters' Supplies near Bath, Scarva in Northern Ireland, various online-only operations shipping nationally. These suppliers do good work. But they serve a London ceramicist at arm's length - you order from a description and a photograph, you wait, you open the package, and you discover that the glaze looks nothing like you expected on your clay body under your kiln conditions.
This is not a small problem. Glaze development in particular is highly dependent on the specific variables of your practice - your clay, your kiln, your firing temperature, your application method. Buying glazes you have never seen fired is a bit like buying paint having only read the name on the tin. You can make it work, and most of us have spent years doing exactly that. But it is a slow and expensive way to develop.
What's actually available in London, and what each option is good for
GLOST - Peckham, SE15 (the one I run -I'll be transparent about that)
GLOST opened in March 2026 at Railway Arch 848, Brayards Road, Peckham, SE15 2AG - as far as I can establish, the only dedicated ceramics supply walk-in store in London Zone 2.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 12:00-19:30, Saturday 12:00--18:00, Sunday 12:00--17:00
The studio stocks glazes, stains, a full range of raw glaze-making ingredients (feldspars, carbonates, oxides, frits and more), clays from UK manufacturers available in full bags or 1kg test packs, tools, underglazes, and a curated selection of books. The glaze range is made in-house in small batches - and every glaze is available to see fired on test tiles before you buy. That test tile wall is the point: you should be able to see what a material actually does before you commit to it.
We also run workshops in glaze making, electric kiln firing, and surface decoration. Full details at glost-glaze.com. Phone: 07956 002055 during opening hours.
Ceramatech - North Tottenham, North London
Ceramatech is a ceramics materials warehouse in North Tottenham, just off the North Circular Road - and probably the most underknown supply option in London. They carry a comprehensive range of clays and glazes, underglazes and stains, raw materials and oxides, tools, and equipment. For a London ceramicist who needs dry ingredients without waiting for national delivery, knowing this place exists is genuinely useful.
One important practical note: Ceramatech is not a walk-in shop. They operate on a pre-arranged basis -- you need to call or email in advance to confirm stock, arrange your visit, and in some cases pre-pay before collecting. Turning up unannounced is not recommended and may result in a wasted journey. Think of it as a trade collection point rather than a browsable retail space. Their answerphone message carries the most up-to-date information on availability and opening.
That said, for a ceramicist in London who knows what they need and is prepared to arrange it properly, Ceramatech is a significant resource that most people don't know about. Worth having in your contacts.
Blue Matchbox - Reading
Blue Matchbox is based in Reading at the northwest edge of London. They carry a broad range of materials, clays, glazes, kilns, and equipment and have been a working option for North and West London ceramicists for some years. Their online shop has solid stock depth. The journey from South or East London is over an hour - for those in North or West London it is considerably more practical.
Regional and online suppliers worth knowing
For materials you already know you want, bulk orders, and anything not in stock locally, these are the options most reliably used by working ceramicists in the UK.
Scarva Pottery Supplies is one of the largest and most comprehensive ceramics suppliers in the UK, based in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, and shipping nationally. Founded in 1990 by working potters, they developed their own Earthstone clay bodies - the same range stocked at GLOST - as well as the Nano Colours glaze and stain range. They are agents for over 60 international ceramic manufacturers including Terracolor, Rohde Kilns, and Mudtools. The range covers everything: clays, prepared glazes, raw materials, oxides, stains, tools, wheels, kilns, and accessories. For most standard materials, Scarva is a reliable and competitively priced first port of call. scarva.com
Pottery Crafts (Potterycrafts) has been supplying ceramicists since 1983 and has built into one of the UK's more comprehensive online operations. They are the UK distributor of Mayco's Stroke and Coat glaze range and stock Shimpo pottery wheels. Their range covers clays, glazes, underglazes, raw materials, kilns, wheels, tools, and equipment at all price points. They also distribute Sculp Nouveau patinas and metal finishes - relevant for anyone working across ceramic and mixed-media surfaces. Customer service is well-regarded. potterycrafts.co.uk
Hot Clay is a Bristol-based online supplier with a strong reputation among studio potters. Unusually for a UK ceramics supplier, they are employee-owned and B Corp certified. Their stock covers the full range: clays, glazes, kilns (Nabertherm, Rohde, Kilncare), wheels, tools, raw materials, and books, plus online pottery courses. Free delivery on orders over 60 pounds. Where Hot Clay particularly stands out is in the consistency and speed of its service - consistently cited in reviews as a reason people return. hot-clay.com
Bath Potters' Supplies is the most established general ceramics supplier in the UK - a family-run business with a knowledgeable team and a walk-in shop near Bath. Deep stock, reliable service, good technical documentation. A benchmark for standard raw materials and prepared glazes. Worth the trip to the shop if you are heading west; for London makers, primarily an online source. bathpotters.co.uk
Potclays is a fourth-generation family business in Stoke-on-Trent, founded in 1932 one of the oldest ceramics manufacturers in the UK. They actually mine and process their own clays in Staffordshire, using pan mills originally acquired from Cadbury's. That manufacturing depth means their clay knowledge runs unusually deep. They also stock glazes, raw materials, kilns, wheels, and tools, and have a showroom in Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent you can visit by appointment. For clay bodies in particular, Potclays is worth knowing. potclays.co.uk
CTM Potters Supplies operates from showrooms in Doncaster and Exeter and is a main UK distributor for Valentine Clays, carrying around 65 clay bodies. They also manufacture the Contem glaze range in-house and stock raw materials, oxides, and tools from Valentines, Mudtools, Terracolor, and Frema. Ordering is by phone or email rather than a standard online checkout - they take time to talk through what you need, which is useful for volume buying or equipment decisions. ctmpotterssupplies.co.uk
Sussex Potters Supplies is based in Heathfield, East Sussex - around an hour and a half from Central London. Not a traditional walk-in, but they offer click-and-collect from the day after ordering, seven days a week. They stock clay bodies, glazes including the Amaco and Mayco ranges, tools, stains, and oxides. For ceramicists in South or South East London, worth knowing as a regional option that avoids national delivery wait times. sussexpotterssupplies.co.uk
Clayman Supplies, based in Chichester, West Sussex, has been running for over 40 years. They carry one of the largest book selections of any UK ceramics supplier alongside clays, glazes, raw materials, kilns, and tools. Worth checking for specific technical publications or less-common materials the larger suppliers don't stock. claymanltd.co.uk
The consistent limitation of all online and distance buying is the same: you are committing to a material without seeing it fired. Test tiles help, but they are fired under different conditions than your kiln, on clay that may not be yours. The gap between expectation and result is one of the most common frustrations in ceramics.
A note on raw materials: the case for mixing your own
If you are working at a level where formulating your own glazes makes sense - or want to get there - access to raw dry ingredients is what matters most. Prepared glazes are useful, especially starting out or when you need a reliable functional surface. But a maker who understands glaze chemistry and can mix from recipe has a fundamentally different relationship with their surfaces. The range of what becomes possible is larger. The cost per litre drops significantly at volume.
The obstacle is the learning curve. Glaze chemistry is demanding - not impossibly so, but there is real knowledge required before you can formulate confidently. GLOST's Foundations of Glaze Making workshop is designed for exactly this: a three-day intensive that builds the chemistry knowledge, the calculation methods, and the testing practice needed to start building your own recipes. Details at glost-glaze.com.
What London is still missing
Two walk-in options - GLOST in Peckham and Blue Matchbox in Harrow - plus Ceramatech in Tottenham for pre-arranged collection, is a better picture than most London ceramicists realise. But it is still thin for a city this size. None of these are particularly close to each other, and for a ceramicist working in East or South East London, Tottenham and Harrow are both real journeys.
The scene will improve with demand. If you know of supply options this article hasn't covered, I'd genuinely like to hear about them.
GLOST is at
Railway Arch 848, Brayards Road, Peckham, SE15 2AG.
Open Tuesday-Friday 12:00-19:30,
Saturday 12:00-18:00,
Sunday 12:00-17:00.
Call during opening hours: 07956 002055. Email at hello@glost-glaze.com
Full details at glost-glaze.com.
Elena Gileva is the founder of GLOST, a ceramic glaze brand and supply studio in Peckham, London. GLOST makes small-batch glazes, stocks ceramic materials, and teaches glaze making at all levels.