Amelia Kingston - 26 - 35

Amelia started work as a potter in Stawell, when she was 16 years old. She had an amazing teacher who inspired her to keep creating and to keep learning. She first learned to throw on a pottery wheel and developed a keen passion for glaze technology. Her sister, Jemima from Kingston Jewellery and her were both told by their careers teachers that they would never make a living as artists, they both went out of their way to ensure they not only made it, but are passionate about their artwork.

Conversely now, Amelia mostly hand-builds and is keen to create unusual, irregular and more organic forms. Her work is functional and food safe but preferences the unusual with inspiration being taken from Tim Burton, Dr Seuss and other children's literature. All of her glazes are handmade in her studio.

AKA is called this as a play on words, Amelia Kingston Art, and also aka as 'also known as'. In her local town, Amelia is known for her teaching, but also as an artist, potter and entrepreneur.

Amelia has had a number of significant collaborations recently, those being Anthropologie USA (handles and doorknobs) , Yalu apothecary (incense dish) and Fazeek (soap dish).

All of Amelia’s pottery is handmade in her studio in the Grampians. She uses a porcelaneous stoneware and fire to 1220 degrees. All of her glazes are made from her own recipes and are food safe. She also use lustres, and china-paints most recently in her cactus collection.

She currently makes vases, trinket bowls, plates, earrings, necklaces, ring holders, planters and sculptural works inspired by her time overseas, especially her time in Norway and Iceland. Most recently her sculptural work has been centered on the Arthropod Phylum, with her fantastical and realistic insects inspired by her family travels through Romania.

Her newest and hugely popular collection is the 'Bogan' range. After 33 years in the country, Amelia has decided to embrace her bogan roots and make it a part of her work. These include hilarious Australianisms that are glazed onto the ceramic. These are then decorated in lustre, juxtaposing their intense Australian slang with beautiful gold highlights.

Amelia’s latest collection is inspired by the works of Picasso. The cubist forms, combined with the softness of round handles, in both rough texture, and smooth black brings a certain sensual quality to the work.