Stepahead Ceramics, Tapa lll, OO, N.P.C. Studio Ceramics

Found this pair yesterday & thought they may be of interest.Cups numbered 203 & 208?  out of 300 & signed KP from 1997. Saucers one has (illegible) + Nat and the other the 2 circles NZ 97 mark.

Hi there admin, can you please add Stepahead Ceramics to the original heading of this discussion as all the work is from that one brand.

I have have talked to  Matt Nisbet from Stepahead Ceramics. The Tapa design is his. It was first made in 1995, and was in production for 22 years. Matt was very proud of the fact that Barry Brickell had some in his kitchen – cast ceramics!  He said that at first he made his own blanks, then Studio Ceramics produced two Tapa designs under licence; a total of over 100,000 pieces were made in Stepahead designs. Some were sold overseas.  He consulted the Samoan community before using the Tapa motif.

To my joy, Matt told me that he has always been very careful to mark his work and include the artist’s name.  So my jug (below) is in the Koru pattern by Alex Burton, painted in the year 2000.

Matt now hopes to do some new pieces using some of the Studio Ceramics moulds and shapes which he bought at the closing down sale.

As I understand it: This jug was made under contract by Studio Ceramics. The mark is correctly described as Stepahead Ceramics, artist Alex Burton


This vase was made by Matt, who once had a studio near the Ambrico kiln. Correctly described as Stepahead Ceramics, Matt Nisbet

Matthew Nisbet of Stepahead Ceramics - now www.stepa.nz

The double circle is my mark, since 1994.
This was used by someone else for a while, until they realised it has, and is used.

The markings denote;

NZ- New Zealand
95-19 (including 00) the year of manufacture

Tapa1-4, Koru, Brown Tapa, Zebra etc - the design name

Nat, Penny, Mu, Matthew, and many others - the painter
a N.P.C denotes, Natalie, Penny, and Caroline worked on this piece.
The limited series are used to trial a design, if successful, the numbering disappears

Currently working on ex Studio Ceramics forms, with Hand Painting in a limited releases.
A full history and archive will be published, currently being put together for Val Monk's awaited book, on NZ Production Ceramics since Crown Lynn.

You are welcome to email through the web site above for information on work.
There is a large archive held, images etc will be online in the future

Hi Matt this is Val. I am glad you have added to this post - thank you for the info. I am still slowly writing... Studio Ceramics was so BIG with so many artists and designers associated with it.

Tapa cups and saucers courtesy of the Ferret :