Martin Smith’s practice consists of an ongoing research project investigating the formal language of the vessel and the way that it can both contain a space and define a place. He makes reference to elements of architectural language and uses ‘poetic geometry’. Investigations into both material and process underpin his research, the results of which are a series of regular exhibitions in international galleries and museums. He has recently extended the investigation beyond the autonomous ceramic object to multi-part series, wall installations of plates making use of hybrid digital and silkscreen print processes, and – currently – furniture.
Martin Smith attended the Ipswich School of Art before moving on to Bristol Polytechnic Faculty of Art and Design where he was awarded the DipAD in Ceramics. From 1975–7 he undertook a Degree by Project at the Royal College of Art in the Ceramics Department. This was the equivalent of a research degree and investigated the potential of the Japanese technique of Raku as a highly controllable rapid firing process. It resulted in the design and construction of a radically new kiln, glaze and body formulation and the production of a body of work that formed the basis of much that was to follow.
In 1979 he moved his studio to London. From 1977 he was teaching part-time at Loughborough College of Art and Design and from 1980–3 he was the head of its Ceramics Department. From 1986–9 he was senior tutor at Camberwell School of Art and Crafts.
Martin Smith's work is included in many public collections including Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museum Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; and Kanazama Crafts Council, Taiwan.