Meet the Maker: Author Ceramics
This Christmas, we’re excited to introduce a very special collaboration with local Auckland artist, Author Ceramics. Known for their thoughtful, hand-thrown vessels using sand from NZ beaches and their strong connection with the ocean, their work is deeply rooted in nostalgia, storytelling and place.
Introducing Stephen & Lilly, the creative forces behind Author Ceramics. Stephen is the man behind the clay and brings a quiet beauty to everyday objects, and Lilly is the creative behind the camera, photographing and making each piece shine.
We’ve long admired Author’s work here at A&C, so when it came to creating our Christmas Candle this year, partnering with Author felt like a really natural fit. We love that Author’s work is about evoking a feeling or a memory and that’s what we hope when you smell and light our candle.
About the Candle
This year we have two seasonal candles, each is truly one-of a kind, they have been lovingly hand thrown on the wheel to create the stunning waves and curves of the vessel, then hand-filled locally in small batches with natural soy wax, hand trimmed and matched with an A&C scents. Our much loved ‘Christmas Pine’, a nostalgic scent of freshly cut pine trees and our signature scent ‘Willow’, a scent that is reminiscent of long summer days by the beach, surrounded by nature.
We caught up with Stephen to learn about his process, inspiration, and approach to creating pieces that feel both timeless and personal.
1. Tell us a little about yourself and Author. What inspired you to start Author?
I’m Stephen, a ceramic artist from New Zealand, born and raised in the Naki. We started Author because I wanted to make things that meant something. Not just pottery for the sake of pottery, but pieces that carry stories. When I began, I was drawn to how clay records everything you do to it. Every touch, every mark, every imperfection stays there. I realised that’s what I loved most about it.
Author grew from that idea in a way. It is about creating pieces that hold moments. Every platter, vase, or bowl I make is designed to be kept out, it is sculptural and holds the essence of New Zealand's coast inside it. Happy on its own but welcomes flowers or food. Pieces that are etched in family memories. The name Author came from the idea that every person writes their own story, and I just make the vessel that helps hold a piece of it. I grew up wanting to be a writer and this felt like a cool way to tell my story.
Clay has a way of grounding you. It slows you down and keeps you honest. There is no way to fake it. I think that’s what people connect with in my work. It is about honesty, about touch, and about time, about our family and life we live.
2. Tell us about the process of creating the vessel for our Christmas candle.
This vessel started with a memory. I wanted it to feel like a summer evening on the coast. That moment when the sun is low and the air smells like salt, sunscreen, and smoke from someone’s bonfire down the beach. That feeling of warmth and nostalgia was the starting point. We have a little quote we use that goes a little something like this. We all met by the fire, I knew you would be there just because you said you would.
The clay I used for it was our coastal clay, white clay with black sand from the West coast. Each piece hand thrown on the wheel and altered by hand to give it the bends and folds like a wave or flicker of fire. I wanted them to feel solid but soft at the same time. I shaped it in a way that kept a sense of weight, so it feels good in your hands, not delicate or overly refined.
I like thinking about how people will use it. When the candle burns down, it becomes part of your home. It can live on as dip or key bowl and something for those family treasures. It isn’t something to throw away. It’s something that stays, something that holds a story.
For me, this piece is about light, memory, and ritual. Lighting a candle, especially at Christmas, always carries emotion. I wanted that same feeling in the form itself.
3. Your brand is centred around the idea that every piece holds a story. What story do you hope this candle and your pieces will carry into people’s homes?
I hope it carries a story of warmth, connection, and time spent together. I think about families sitting around a table, friends talking late into the night, or someone taking a quiet moment to themselves.
The story is in those moments. The candle might sit on a table beside food, laughter, or stillness. I love the idea that it becomes part of people’s daily rituals, something they light without thinking about it, but that holds meaning over time.
Every piece I make has that intention. To become part of someone’s life quietly, to live with them, and collect their stories as it goes.
4. Do you have a favourite piece from your collection that holds a special meaning or story?
The Pillow Vase. That piece changed everything for me. It was one of those accidents that became something important. I was throwing a vase, the largest I had ever made at the time and it collapsed halfway through. Instead of scrapping it, I stopped and looked at the form. It had this soft, relaxed almost pillow shape, like our entire brand and story had just woken.
It became one of my most loved designs, and it still feels personal every time I make one. It taught me to trust the clay and not over-control the process. It also taught me that beauty often comes out of mistakes. It’s a reminder to let go a little and see what happens. Trust the failures, embrace them, learn from them and chase them.
5. Outside of the studio, what inspires you and how does that shape your work?
The coast, always. The light, the salt in the air, the roughness of sand underfoot, and the way the sea feels both calm and wild at the same time. That is where I reset and where most of my ideas begin.
Family also inspires me. My wife and kids keep me grounded. They remind me what matters. The rhythm of our life together, the small rituals, the quiet moments at home — that all feeds into the way I work. My pieces always seem to reflect where I’m at in life. When things are calm, they’re softer. When life is chaotic, they have more energy and movement.
Everything I make comes from what I see and feel outside the studio. I don’t separate the two. The studio is just an extension of the rest of my life.
6. Can you share a little about the making process in your studio, what goes into designing, shaping and finishing each vessel?
The process always starts with the clay. I blend it myself using different materials, sand from beaches across New Zealand. That adds a bit of texture and a sense of place.
Everything I make is hand-built or wheel thrown. I like the control it gives me but also the unpredictability. I roll slabs, shape them, and let the clay tell me when to stop. Sometimes I design as I go, other times I have a clear picture in mind.
I keep the finishing simple. I like when you can see the fingerprints or the faint lines from my hands. I don’t try to hide that. It’s important that the piece feels human. I use a very simple clear glaze, a process that brings the clay to life but never to covers it.
Each vessel takes time. There is a lot of things you don't see like drying, refining, trimming, firing and sometimes the smallest change in humidity or timing can alter everything. That’s part of what I love about it. You can’t rush clay. You have to meet it where it’s at.
7. Any advice for creating a space or home you love?
Make it yours. Don’t fill it with things you think you should have. Fill it with things that make you feel something. A home doesn’t need to be perfect, it needs to feel alive and give you a sense of place.
Bring in things that hold memories, pieces from people you love, objects from places you’ve been, handmade things that carry a story. That’s what makes a space feel like home. We often almost try to hide who we are in our homes, stuff we think other people think is cool, the picture you love stays away while the print that means nothing stays at centre stage. Own it, embrace it, and let go
The best homes are the ones that give you that feeling when you first arrive at a batch, you are right where you are meant to be.
FILL IN THE BLANKS
The most inspiring place you have been:
It is hands down Whangamata. Actually, I have two places, Whangamata and Bali but Whangamata is the one that really feels like home. Our dream is to move there one day. I grew up camping there, me and Lilly got married there, and we still go back every summer to camp with our family. It has everything that we love in life, the sand in my feet, the slow connection with a small community, the feeling of being part of something peaceful.
Bali just has this energy. If you have been, I do not even need to explain it. If you know, you know. It is the most magical place. It is grounding and humbling, and it gives me so much inspiration every time I go back. The light, the people, the rhythm of life there, it is everything I love about simplicity, complexity and creativity.
Go-to studio soundtrack:
Usually Sublime or something that feels like summer in the 90s it gets me pumped every time
Favourite maker or creative account to follow:
To be honest, I try to stay away from following too many other potters, just so that I do not get persuaded into following trends or influenced by what others are doing. I like to create without being led somewhere, if that makes sense.
But some creatives I find deeply inspiring are the team at Zoe and Morgan. Their story, their consistency, and the way they have been able to hold on to everything they believed in from the start is so inspiring to me. They have stayed true to their identity and their craft, and that is something I really admire.
If you weren’t working with clay, what would you be doing?
Probably storytelling in another form — writing, film, something that still involves creating meaning from emotion. But honestly, there is nothing I would really want to be doing other than this.