Island Life Magazine Ltd April / May 2016 | Page 39

Sue

INTERVIEW

smashes
it
with ceramics business

Taking home the Premier Ford Small
Business trophy from this year’s Isle of Wight
Venus Awards was Ryde-based ceramic
artist Sue Paraskeva, who has turned her
distinctive high-end art into a thriving
international business with some big-name
clients. Jackie McCarrick has been finding
out more about the woman and her work.

T

here can’t be many art graduates
who get their first commission
out of college from an A-list film
star – but that’s exactly how it happened
for Sue in 1995, on leaving Middlesex
University with a BA Honours in 3-D
Design, specialising in ceramics.
She was the only student who sent in
slides of her work for a feature in the
style bible Elle Decoration magazine
– and when they were published,
they attracted the attention of Kevin
Costner’s interior designer.
So, just starting out at the tender
age of 23, her first commission was
to design and produce 94 pieces
of hand-thrown tableware for the

Hollywood star. “It was a very steep
learning curve!” recalls Sue.
She set up a workshop in London
on the back of it, and so her life as a
working artist began.
As her reputation grew, she was
invited to exhibit work in such highprofile venues as the Victoria and
Albert Museum, Royal Festival Hall
and Bonhams, as well as galleries and
shows in Edinburgh, Oxford, Bath,
Munich and London.
However, despite enjoying the buzz
of working in the city, Sue says that she
always had a yearning to be close to
the beach.
“I’m a beach lover and always have
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