Jo, or CracktPotJo creates Pique Assiette (Stolen plate) mosaics. Recreating broken and unwanted china and pottery into beautiful new, re-loved objects for the home. Respecting the history and returning value to the old, used and unwanted.
Jo has a long appreciation of craft and has from a very young age always had a project on the go. Jo has a degree in Humanities with Art history and has had many and various careers in education, hospitality and the heritage industries. It was when as an at home mum practicing various crafts and while gardening that Jo accidentally discovered her passion for mosaics.

“Although gardening was enjoyable, it was what I found when digging that really animated me. Digging potatoes or preparing a seedbed, a beautiful shard of Victorian pottery or half a teacup would suddenly appear. I would firstly put the shard in my pocket while I carried on digging, then it would be placed in a little bowl I had in the greenhouse. Eventually this little gem would find its way to my boot room. In this room sat a papier mache urn I had made more than a decade before. I decided to stick each shard onto the urn, and I would soon discover that this is what makes me happy”

When creating a mosaic it is the available china that dictates how the piece will look. Clashing styles, colours and including the backstamp of the plate often all comes together when the black grout is applied. When breaking or nipping a plate details unremarkable when seen as a whole become little gems that really pop like a curly leaf or textured rim. In her workshops Jo likes to encourage the role of chance rather than neat matching. The history and past life as well as the beauty of unwanted china is also emphasised in the classes.
Jo has a studio at Ayres House in Wallingford and runs mosaic workshops, classes and sells at markets and online