Cãtãlin Filip has begun a four-week artist residency at Grymsdyke Farm in Buckinghamshire.
He is one of four artists who were awarded a Fresh Talent Prize at the 2025 British Ceramics Biennial. Each prize includes an artist residency at a leading academic and cultural institution. Artists were chosen from BCB’s 2025 Fresh exhibition, which celebrates artists at a launch moment in their practice, championing artistic discovery and the courage of new beginnings.
Cãtãlin will use the facilities and resources of Grymsdyke Farm to explore his practice. He will have the opportunity to work within their Maker Spaces. This will allow him to engage directly with a range of materials and making techniques. Grymsdyke Farm functions as a research facility, an experimental laboratory and a live-work space. Historically it was a working dairy farm, but now its secluded setting offers a unique place for reflection, experimentation and production.
“I’m only a few days into the residency, but it’s already been great to slow down and spend more time with ideas than I usually can. There are lots of sketches and material tests I’ve been carrying around for a while that I’ve never really had the chance or the right setup to explore properly in my own studio, so it’s been really satisfying to finally start working through some of them. I’m curious to see how the work develops over the next few weeks.”
–Cãtãlin Filip, Grymsdyke Farm artist-in-residence
About Grymsdyke Farm
Grymsdyke Farm is a shared space for design experimentation, located in the village of Lacey Green just outside London. Grymsdyke Farm has repurposed its agricultural buildings to create maker spaces and communal facilities. Traditional craftsmanship blends with modern digital design. They have become an important reference point and a resource for architects, designers and students: a place to develop ideas, explore design practices and investigate methodologies. Although within easy reach of central London, its rural setting in Buckinghamshire is linked with design and making. Historically, the region was the heart of the British furniture industry.
About the Artist
Cãtãlin Filip is a Romanian-born, UK-based artist and designer specialising in ceramic art. Growing up in post-communist Romania, Cãtãlin experienced a time of creative tension. Newfound freedoms allowed for artistic expression, but limited resources compelled artists to be inventive. This environment shaped his approach to art, fostering a spirit of experimentation and a deep appreciation for alternative processes.
Cãtãlin makes sculptural ceramic lamps and object installations inspired by the natural responses of raw clay to forces such as gravity. By bending, pulling, and stretching the material, he captures the fluidity and movement of clay, transforming it into stone-like finished forms. As a self-taught ceramicist, Cãtãlin approaches clay as a medium for discovery. He embraces trial and error to develop innovative techniques that achieve the forms he imagines.