Our third illustrator commission challenged the widely-held view that illustration can only be found on paper.

Acclaimed illustrator and ceramicist Laura Carlin detailed the journey from her first drawing to finally realising an idea in clay.

It consisted of five large-scale installations exploring the illustrative possibilities of archetypal ceramic forms such as the vessel, tile, object and plate, including a floor-to-ceiling 650-tile mural of the history of London.

Ceramics have been used as storytelling vehicles for generations, notably by the ancient Greeks, who developed a distinctive artistic style to show military, religious and sporting themes, as well as mythical stories.

Carlin’s work explores the ideas of ephemerality and intransience, and demonstrates the possibilities of this medium as an illustrative tool today, inviting people to engage with and challenge their own views of what constitutes illustration.

Voted one of the 50 most influential creatives under 30 by the Art Director’s Club of America, Laura Carlin has illustrated many children's books and a weekly column in the Financial Times as well as being a regular contributor to Condé Nast Traveller, The New York Times, The Guardian and The New Statesman. In 2010 she won a V&A Award for her illustrations of The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.