About Rock Garden Ceramics
Rock Garden Ceramics is a pottery studio based in York, founded by Zak Agnew and Lydia Cotton. Together, we design and make handmade tableware for Michelin-starred chefs, as well as collectors, cafés, shops, and creative spaces.
We’re a team of two, everything is made by hand in our making studio just north of York, using traditional techniques on the wheel and with hand-building methods like slab, pinch, and coil. Every piece starts from scratch and is refined again and again until it’s just right.
Even something as simple as a coffee cup is carefully considered, the weight in your hand, the thinness of the lip, the way the shape enhances the flavour of the bean. We know the right cup can elevate the whole experience. That’s why we collaborate closely with chefs, baristas, and everyday people who care about the details, crafting ceramics that aren’t just beautiful, but made to be used and loved every day.
Our ceramics have been used in fine dining kitchens, on the sets of Great British Menu and MasterChef: The Professionals, and in homes across the UK. Alongside restaurant work, we also create sculptural vases and fine art pieces, drawing on textures and tones from Yorkshire’s natural landscapes.
Craft and care are at the centre of everything we do.
Our Craft
At the heart of Rock Garden is a love of utility. We design pottery that feels good to hold, serves its purpose beautifully, and grows better over time.
Most of our pieces are made on the potter’s wheel by Lydia, with Zak handling the glazing, kiln firings, and technical processes that bring each pot to life. We're quietly obsessive about the details, refining the way a spout pours, the balance of a bowl, or how a handle feels in the hand. Because everything is handmade, no two pieces are ever the same, and as our hands evolve, so do our forms.
Supporting our work means investing in that lifelong process of improvement. You’ll see it reflected in the ceramics, always made with care, and always getting better.
We work closely with chefs and restaurants to create bespoke tableware for tasting menus, chef’s counters, and open kitchens.
Our ceramics are used in Michelin-starred restaurants and neighbourhood cafés alike — always designed to meet the rhythm of service, the demands of plating, and the story of the food. Every detail is considered, from the height of a bowl’s rim to the way a plate frames a dish.
Every commission begins with a conversation — about feel, function, and flavour — and evolves into a collection made to last.
Ceramics for Chefs
The People Behind Rock Garden
Lydia Cotton
Co-founder / Ceramicist and Artist
Lydia is the wheel-thrower behind Rock Garden, a ceramicist with a background in fine art, photography, and film. Her creative path began with oil painting and sculpture, eventually taking her to Vancouver, where she studied Fine Art and Film and spent time learning metalwork and welding.
She’s also worked on film sets and has a longstanding interest in visual storytelling. Beyond the studio, Lydia finds joy in the everyday art of living, surrounding herself with handmade objects, collecting work by other artists, and applying an artistic eye to daily life.
It was in Vancouver that she first discovered ceramics, drawn to the rhythm of making and the tactile nature of clay. Over time, she’s developed a practice focused on refining shape and function, always thinking about how a piece feels in the hand or fits into real life. Whether it’s a coffee cup with the right lip for tasting or a pot designed with a chef’s input, she approaches each piece with intention and attention to detail.
Lydia continues to paint alongside her ceramics work and sees both practices as closely connected, rooted in material, composition, and a thoughtful, hands-on approach to making.
Zak Agnew
Co-founder / Studio Technician
Zak handles everything that brings a pot to life after it’s trimmed. He oversees each firing, manages glaze testing and mixing, reclaims clay, and maintains all the technical equipment in the studio. Every glaze recipe, firing cycle, and finish is refined by Zak to bring out the best in the form — whether it’s built for a chef’s table or a collector’s shelf.
At Studio by Rock Garden, Zak built the space by hand, from the fit-out to the fine details. He designed and made the Douglas fir shelving that lines the walls, shaping the wood to reflect the lines of the tree it came from. Each plank was planed and sanded to a soft finish, made to be sat on, worked at, and lived with, a continuation of the studio’s love for natural materials and quiet, considered design.
Outside of the studio, Zak is an avid outdoorsman with a love for rock climbing, particularly outdoor bouldering in Yorkshire’s climbing spots like Almscliffe and Brimham Rocks. Many of Rock Garden’s forms and surfaces are inspired by these landscapes, clean, refined shapes or rugged, durable textures drawn from nature’s own sense of function and purpose.
Where We Work
All of our ceramics are made at our main studio just north of York — a quiet making space surrounded by farmland. The studio sits at the edge of open fields, where the pace is slow and the landscape shifts with the seasons. It’s a peaceful environment that feeds into our creative rhythm —
At our Making Studio, this is where commissions are thrown, trimmed, glazed, and fired. It’s where the kilns live, the glaze tests happen, and new forms are developed. This studio isn’t open to the public, but visits can be arranged by appointment for chefs, collaborators, and collectors.
You can also find us in the city at Studio by Rock Garden — our micro studio and curated shop on Scarcroft Road, opening late August 2025. It’s where we’ll be running workshops, hosting exhibitions, and offering a rotating collection of handmade ceramics, homeware, and creative tools. It's also where you’ll find Zak most days — sanding shelves, pouring coffee, or packing up orders.
Studio by Rock Garden –
📍 9 Scarcroft Road, York
Our opening hours are:
Mon: 7am–3pm
Sat&Sun: 7am–5pm
Studio by Rock Garden is our second space — a new micro studio and curated shop in York’s South Bank.
We’ve spent months building it by hand: wooden shelves shaped by Zak, ceramics made by Lydia, and thoughtful details throughout. Once open, the studio will become a space to explore the wider world of Rock Garden, a calm, light-filled corner of the city for creativity and craft.
Inside, you’ll find our handmade ceramics alongside one-of-a-kind kitchenware, original artwork, handmade art supplies, and objects from local and UK-based makers.
We’ll also host workshops, exhibitions, and hands-on sessions, from painting thrown pots to slow evening gatherings with clay and wine. It’s a space to make, to browse, and to connect, designed for those who care about the details.
📍 Studio by Rock Garden
9 Scarcroft Road,
York, YO23 1ND
Where can you find Rock Garden Pieces?
Kiosk Cafe - Fossgate, York.
Roots - Marygate, York.
Red Goat Climbing Wall - Reddness Street, York.
The Black Swan- Oldstead, York.
Flori Bakery- Scarcroft Rd, York.
Vi Coffee + Wine- Monkgate, York.
Pignut Restaurant- Bridge St, Helmsley.
The Grand, Legacy Restaurant - Station Rise, York.
Melton’s - Scarcroft Rd, York.
Hog & Apple - Bunnyhill Venue & Norman Venue.
Saltmoore Hotel - Sandsend Rd, Whitby
Restaurant Norse - Neepsend, Sheffield.
Fish & Forest - Micklegate, York.
Robinson’s - Bishopthorpe Rd, York.
Restaurant Eighty Eight- Grantley Hall, Ripon.
Frog by Adam Handling- Southampton St, London.
Black Wheat Club - Fossgate, York.
WILD - High St, Berkhamstead.
Birch Syrup Dessert by The Black Swan in Oldstead,
on our silver birch glazed dish.
