Before taking up ceramics, Mella Shaw had a 15-year career in exhibitions in the museum and gallery sector. In 2009, she received a two-year Diploma in Ceramics from City Lit in London. She then completed an MA in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal College of Art in 2013.
Mella was selected for Collect Open in 2018 and was awarded the Henry Rothschild Memorial Ceramic Bursary in 2020. In 2023 she won the British Ceramics Biennial Award Prize. She lives and works in Edinburgh, is a visiting lecturer on the BA Ceramic Design course at Central St Martin’s and Ceramic Tutor at the Royal College of Art, London.