Lecy Campbell is a tile designer and founder of Drumboden tiles, where she creates unique handcrafted stoneware, from Tennessee. Lecy starts by crafting hand-carved designs and using plaster molds and clay to create accurate replicas of original tile designs. Each one of her tiles is painstaking dried for weeks before being bisque fired. The specific handcrafted process ensures that all tiles are utterly unique. Lecy and Drumboden Tiles are also a member of the Handmade Tile Association. So we are proud to bring you the Designer Insights of Lecy Campbell.
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1) In your own words describe your unique style and creative aesthetic?
My aesthetic is all about handcrafted individually designed work to fit a client and a space. I draw on world wide artisanal traditions – including pottery, batik stamps and woodblock prints
2) When starting a new project, what is your creative process?
It starts with understanding the client’s needs and vision. I then rummage through things that inspire me – vintage cookbooks, Arts and Crafts pottery, the Book of Kells – and begin designing.
3) Out of the creative people you have worked with, who is it that you respect and admire the most?
Out of all the fun, creative people I’ve been lucky to work with, I often think about my college ceramics professor. Despite the fact that I took those classes as a fun break I learned the characteristics of clay that would lay the groundwork for a career twenty years later.
4) When looking for inspiration is there a particular thing you do to get inspired?
The worldwide artistic tradition usually helps get me started. I dig through how other artists have approached a topic, break down what they have done, then go my own way.
5) What has brought you to this point in your career? And what is your advice for people looking to follow in your footsteps?
I’ve worked hard but I’ve also been lucky to have people who believe in what I do. You need both an artistic vision and a business plan.
