“I fell in love with clay while I was at Edinburgh College of Art studying for a degree in Jewellery design. It was the immediacy of clay, the smooth texture and its ability to move and react to your every touch that, in the end, resulted in my moving class and eventually finding a career as a potter. 

"After college, I continued my training under the supervision of Edmund de Waal. He taught me to throw on the potter's wheel and introduced me to porcelain. I'm still using the same clay today. I like to tell a story - creating whimsical scenes that capture the insignificant yet precious moments that make up our daily lives. 

"My one of a kind ceramics, which are each individually thrown on the wheel and hand painted, are made for exhibitions and commissions. I often collaborate with private clients, luxury retailers, galleries and museums; for example recent commissions include designing and making a bespoke range of porcelain for Fortnum and Mason and The National Gallery.”

Helen Beard was born in Sheffield in 1979. She studied at Liverpool Art School (1998), Edinburgh College of Art (2001) and trained under Edmund de Waal, the eminent British ceramic artist and author in 2003.

Her numerous awards include the Crafted Mentee, Arts and Business and Walpole initiative (2009), Evening Standard, Homes and Property Award for Best Domestic Design (2007), Crafts Council Development Award (2005) and Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship: awarded for international study of ceramics (2003) 
 
Selected recent exhibitions include Fortnum and Mason, London,  CraftKontor, Bonn Germany, Blackwell the Arts and Crafts House, Cumbria, SOFA New York, Ashes and Milk, Chicago USA, and Handwerk Museum, Munich Germany.

Her work is in the following collections: Brighton and Hove Museum, Edinburgh Museums and Galleries Trust, London Southwark Council, Donna Karan, New York, Egg, London, Wigglesworth Architects, London and Betty Davies Scottish Fashion International, Edinburgh.