About 1690
 

When my fifth child started school, I opened a shop in part of my home at the time and began 1690, a sort of Diagon Alley-style place where I imagined Molly Weasley would go for her essentials. I made candles and balms and jams, but what really took off were my ceramics, which I started making in earnest in about 2019. I closed the shop and installed a kiln in the laundry room at the house: 1. so I could carry on working once the children had gone to bed and 2. so I could dry the washing quickly. Things sort of developed. I now sell my entire portfolio here online and in a number of really wonderful shops and galleries around the world. I was asked some time ago what my dream creative project would be and I answered, ‘Fixing my roof’. Frankly, home - what and who we choose to surround ourselves with is, I believe, our most creative endeavour. So make it lovely if you can. And tender.

1690 now operates from the outbuildings of my family home in a small village in the Dorset countryside.

Further reading:

Inside a crumbling home where its flaws are the star attraction - by Mark O’Flaherty, The Sunday Times, 25th February, 2024

Finding the Light at Candili, by Ben Short, Financial Times, How To Spend It, 28th October, 2023.

Dropping By: Sophie Wilson’s Romantic Entanglement with Crowland Manor, by Grace McCloud, Inigo Almanac, 16 August 2023.

The Magic of Sophie Wilson’s Crowland Manor, by Aimee Farrell, How To Spend It, FT.com, 03 December 2021.