About Us + Our Materials
A Story of Pots + Pencils, Metal + Clay
Stephen Farnan Studio sits right in the heart of west Belfast, at St Comgall’s on Divis Street. Stephen’s creative journey has been a rich one: born in Littlehampton on the south coast of England, but growing up in Armagh. Stephen completed his degree in Fine & Applied Art in Belfast, followed by a Masters in Ceramics & Glass at the Royal College of Art, London. After travelling the world and experimenting with making, he returned home in 2002 to set up his studio at Priory Cottages in Benburb County Tyrone.
Stephen is a maker at heart, pottery is probably his first love, but with delicate pencil sketches of familiar Irish scenes, life drawings, paintings, and more recently, playful experiments with AI in his Belfast Delft collection, his work spans red earthenware, porcelain, wood, aluminium, and canvas — a broad, curious practice rooted in both craft and imagination.
Porcelain: Captured Memories
Stephen’s Captured Memories series celebrates Ireland, and her beauty. Every piece begins as hand-rolled porcelain, cut, ripped, stamped and shaped into something raw and textured. No two pieces are ever alike. A rich glaze fired to 1220°C adds depth, while Stephen’s own drawings — applied as ceramic decals and re-fired at 850°C — give each work its unique voice. These are small, permanent stories: timeless landscapes captured forever in porcelain.
Red Earthenware: Simple & Honest
Some of Stephen’s most striking work comes from humble red earthenware. Often paired with just a touch of glaze, the clay’s natural texture softens beautifully with time and use. Flowing glazes bring warmth and contrast, creating pieces that feel rugged and elegant all at once — simple, tactile, and timeless.
Wood: Living Art
For large wooden works, Stephen uses high-grade marine plywood for strength and character. Each piece is sanded and finished by hand to reveal the grain, knots, and subtle irregularities that make the wood unique. Over time, these works shift and settle with their environment, turning each one into a living, changing artwork.
Aluminium: Extraordinary from the Ordinary
Stephen’s aluminium work focuses on transformation — turning simple sketches and an everyday material into something refined and unexpected. Years of experimentation have shaped a process that elevates aluminium into something distinct, polished, and unmistakably his.
BELFAST delft
Memory first. Play second. AI somewhere in the middle. Each piece begins with a memory or imagined scene before being pushed, prodded, and experimented with using AI as a playful tool — not the source of the work, but a way to stretch ideas, explore possibilities, and have a laugh along the way.
Sketchy Thoughts: Fast, Playful, and a Bit Cheeky
Sketchy Thoughts is Stephen’s most spontaneous body of work — quick iPad sketches made in baths, planes, cars, beaches, and anywhere thoughts appear. Each piece starts with a lyric, a moment, or a passing observation and becomes something loose, colourful, and sharply honest.
This series gently mocks the familiar “art” we see everywhere while also poking fun at Stephen himself — his habits, clichés, and contradictions. Part parody, part self-reflection, always rooted in real life. Fast, expressive, a little sarcastic, and quietly sincere, Sketchy Thoughts adds a playful new layer to the story of pots + pencils, metal + clay.
Stephen Farnan’s practice is playful, experimental, and deeply personal. Whether through Pencils + Pens, Red Earthenware, Porcelain, Sketches, Wood, or Aluminium. Through his practice he is trying to capture some element of the materials, the passage of time, and the stories hidden in the everyday.