April 29, 2022
Noble Artist Series: Martina Thornhill

Meet self-taught ceramic artist Martina Thornhill. Based in Portland, Oregon— Martina focuses on small-batch ceramics like her coveted 'okay cup' as well as new retail space 'partly shop' opening soon. Today, we're catching up with her & Bird in her artist studio rocking their Noble threads.

Martina wearing our Charcoal Utility Suit & Bird wearing our Peanut Butter Waffle One Piece Sleeper.
As a self-taught ceramicist, how long did it take you to discover your personal artistic style? It definitely took a few years to feel like I had a cohesive vision, but I think developing your style through testing out all kinds of designs is a really important part of the process. I am constantly trying out new ideas and asking the important final questions of 1) does this fit my vision and 2) is this already being created by someone else? We experience such a constant deluge of images through social media that if developing a personal artistic style is important to you, I think you have to proactively work against subconscious influence. For me that looks like searching for inspiration from fields outside of ceramics, namely through fabrics, paintings, books, and nature. Trying to ignore trends and focusing instead on building upon my previous work.


I started making the emotional mugs a year or so after my first child was born. They felt like an encapsulation of the emotional rollercoaster that is becoming a parent. Just a wild combination of every emotion throughout every day that I'm now reliving again with this second child.





PHOTOS BY EMILY KROUSE PHOTOGRAPHY