April 11, 2026

Skye Ceramics: The Potters Celebrating our Island's Land & Language

Our Misty Isle has long been associated with handmade pottery. It’s a pastime traditionally linked to crofting, where unglazed, narrow-neck pots called ‘crogans’ were placed over peat fires, then used in blackhouses to store butter and milk.

Though these purely functional ceramics may be a far cry from the more refined pieces crafted on the island today, throughout time they still have one thing in common: each preserves the unique marks of its maker. Whether it’s a nineteenth century crogan or a modern stoneware mug, to hold it is to speak with its creator, the individual who built, glazed and dedicated hours of their time to hone their craft.

Here on Skye, we step into the workshops of three local ceramicists, stocked at Òr, who share the joys of crafting with clay.

Painted pottery with Catriona Archibald

Skye local Catriona is a potter who uses a variety of techniques to make her pieces, but slip-casting porcelain is her go-to method for creating the exclusive collaborations in our new collection. From ocean-inspired plaques to floral dishes and decorations for the home, we worked closely with Catriona on a curation of small-batch ceramics.

“Òr’s founder Jen and I decided which flowers would suit each shape together before I slip-cast the porcelain and hand-painted them onto the ceramics. The flowers we chose are from my sketchbook and they’re the ones which were growing in my garden during the first season I moved here. The frilly wall plaque is a wild strawberry, native to Scotland, while the forget-me-nots, tulips, and bluebells are all flowers which appear on the island during spring.”

Catriona often makes the short walk from her studio to the shore in search of inspiration, too. “I’m always influenced by everything around me; rock pools, shells, seaweed —just simple things like being around water. The shore wall plaques in Òr’s collection are the result of my meanders to the little stretch of beach near my studio.”

Hand-building is another part of Catriona’s pottery process — our miniature Skye bothies and seals are formed entirely in her hands. Each humble stoneware shelter has a unique roof, window and door pattern made using a variety of tools and techniques, while the sea creatures take on a personality of their own with individual faces and fins, all patiently carved by Catriona.

As time goes on, Catriona desires that her work will have a lasting impact on the people who buy it. “I hope that my work becomes a memory of the place they’ve been to, an area they love, or they just have it in their home because it makes them smile.”

Celebrating Gaelic with Something To Cry About

Something To Cry About is the passion project of Lucy Anderson, a potter originally from Skye who has been creating with clay for six years, and now has a beautiful sunny studio in Portree. “Making ceramics has been a casual affair so far as I’ve had two children in that time, but both of my sons are now in school, so I’ve recently had a chance to focus on making a lot more.”

We asked Lucy what it is she loves most about pottery and working with clay. “The beauty of ceramics is the functionality; my work is decorative, but it’s also doing a job. A blank page always made me nervous — I think that’s why I moved onto ceramics. There’s a blueprint, a starting point. And like yer man William Morris said, ‘have nothing in your home that isn’t beautiful or useful.’ I hope my pieces are both.”

Lucy explains the impact Skye’s culture has on her, with Gaelic language holding sway over her ceramics. “It’s a delicate dance to celebrate island culture without it becoming reductive. I use Gaelic words in my work because it’s the language of this land and it’s the best one to describe it. It’s also a language which is often superior to English in terms of emotional range.”

As with most of us who either live or visit Skye, we can’t fail to be left in awe by the rugged, windswept beauty of its natural landscape, a feature Lucy’s pottery is endlessly inspired by. “I live for wilting flowers, the moon, ennui, things being battered by the wind. A bit of craic, you know? If it isn’t sad, then I’m probably not interested. I love sea pinks too — which are the flowers painted on Òr’s tumblers — and I’m a wildflower enthusiast. Anything that grows in a seemingly inhospitable place has my heart.”

Inspired by the land with Skíō

After living in York together for ten years, Kayti and Luke decided to make the move to Skye — a place they’d visited many times before and felt it offered everything they wanted in a home. For Kayti, her love for pottery began even before her move to the island.

“I took my mum for a ceramics workshop and after two hours, I was hooked! After lots of practising in the garage and a lot of wobbly pots, I got a few commissions and it went from there. We’ve had our studio on Skye for just over three years now — it has a beautiful window looking over Loch Bay, it’s amazing to sit on the wheel and enjoy the view.”

Every ceramicist has their own personal relationship with clay and their reasons for loving it. For Kayti, her joy comes from knowing each piece brings a little brightness to someone’s life. “I love creating functional ceramics that become a part of your every day, but feel special — like your favourite mug for your tea in the morning. People from all over the world visit us and say that they will think of the view from our window and remember where their ceramic was made, so it’s such a rewarding craft, too.

Skíō translates to ‘Misty Isle’ in Old Norse, so it’s safe to say that Skye itself has an influence on Kayti and Luke’s work, but their inspiration reaches beyond words and stretches into the visual beauty of its landscape, too. “The colours around us have found their way into our glazes and we mix sand collected from local beaches into our clay. Every time we explore the island we usually come back with new ideas, so it’s always evolving.”