ABOUT US
Arts graduates Mike and Carol Francis established their studio, Francis Ceramics, in 1980, specialising in hand-painted blue and white delft style ceramics. Since 2005, the studio has concentrated solely on hand-painted tiling in the form of murals and individual tiles. Francis Ceramics is situated in the beautiful county of Pembrokeshire, west Wales, where visitors are well catered for. If you would like to visit the studio, please telephone first to arrange a mutually convenient time.
Mike and Carol Francis are graduates from the Royal College of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts respectively, and both studied fine art. Following graduation, they moved from London to a thatched cottage on the edge of the fens of East Anglia where they began their pottery in 1980.
The Royal College of Art painting school was situated in a wing of the Victoria and Albert Museum and was also opposite the geological museum. These two places became a source of fascination for Mike where he spent many hours studying the exhibits. The ceramics in the V&A were of particular interest and the knowledge gained here became the foundation for the pottery studio. For years this was a hobby pursued whilst teaching, but gradually, interest grew into a business that required the full time attention of both partners. Living in a tiny cottage with a small garden shed as a studio became too restrictive as the business developed and a move to an old farmhouse in West Wales provided space for the business to expand and the studio has now been based here for twenty years.
| The studio has always had an excellent customer base, including many well-known clients, with whom it has built long-term customer relations. Clients supplied include the following: | ||
| Hampton Court | Kensington Palace | Harrods |
| Harvey Nichols | Neiman Marcus | Colonial Williamsburg |
| Fortnum and Mason | The Emir of Bahrain | Yale Centre for British Art |
| Tower of London | Nina Campbell | Victoria and Albert Museum |
| Over its twenty-eight year history, the Company has won several awards, including Country Living magazine's Small Rural Business Award and Homes and Gardens Best New Product Award. | ||
Up until a few years ago, the studio made several different ranges of hand-made blue and white ceramics but now it concentrates exclusively on hand-painted tiles. The partners' artistic backgrounds have been invaluable in enabling them to build a business with an international reputation for hand-painting. Exports have gone to over thirty countries worldwide and Francis Ceramics continues to exhibit overseas several times a year. Today, the Company's painting skills are used to produce traditional delft tiles, custom murals and contemporary hand-painted tiles, providing the perfect service for tiling, bespoke design and exact fitting.