Crawford Ceramic Designs

Crawford Ceramic Designs is about creating natural ceramic forms for modern homes.

I strive to bring natural and eye pleasing ceramic shapes to your interior environment.

All of the work shown here is one of a kind wheel thrown work created by Brett Crawford at the The Marin Ceramic Cooperative in Marin County California. 

About the Artist

I started working with clay at Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California where I built the foundation of my wheel throwing techniques with Leah Aguayo.  She sparked my interest in clay and Raku firing and most importantly seeded an obsession with clay that would last to present day.  In the same era, I expanded my ceramics training with Dave Ogle.  Dave and other potters at West Valley Junior College mesmerized me with large forms with beautifully natural curves that I aspired to make myself someday.

When I moved to Davis for school, I looked for ways to keep my hands in clay.  Fortunately, I found the UC Davis Crafts Center where I was able to continue and expand my experience in clay.  The UC Davis Craft Center is where I first started teaching – I taught beginning and advanced wheel throwing and a Raku workshop for five years.  While in Davis I almost exclusively focused on Raku firing processes and the endless pursuit of the perfect shape.  My business (Random Raku Pottery) had great success at Northern California Art and Craft Fairs in the 90’s.

In 1997, I relocated to San Diego and immediately went to the UC San Diego Craft Center where I again started teaching ceramics.  In San Diego, I focused more on high fire cone 10 work but continued my passion on controlling the shapes and finding natural curves in my work.  At this point, I had been teaching ceramics for over 20 years.  I hope I was able to inspire some of my students to dig deeper into ceramics as Leah Aguayo had done for me.

In 2015, I relocated to Marin.  This was a transition point for me in my ceramic life.  I decided that I wanted to back away from teaching to make room to focus on my own creations.  In Marin, I started creating at the Mill Valley Potter’s Studio and eventually moved into private studio space at the Wheelhouse in Sausalito and now at the Marin Ceramics Cooperative where I am a co-owner of the studio.  

In 2019, as I got deeper into the local artist community, I joined the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival Organizing Committee to help this incredible local event. Since 2022, I’ve been the sponsor of the Emerging Artists booths - spaces that we reserve for young artists to show and sell their artistic creations (many for the first time).

If you really want to know me… watch the video below. In 2023, my daytime passion employer (BioMarin Pharmaceutical) had a camera crew follow me around for a day in the ceramics studio and a day at work. I absolutely love what they produced… it captures me… a fusion of my two passions - Science and Art.