A Room of One’s Own — Moving into The Coach House Studios

My new studio

In mid-January, I moved my studio into the Coach House on the grounds of Yeldall Manor. It is a change that, in many ways, feels both practical and quietly profound.

For years, my practice was split between spaces. My workshop lived in the garage — often very cold in winter — while my showroom was in the house. It worked, but it also meant a certain fragmentation: making in one place, presenting in another. Now, for the first time, everything comes together in a single room. A warm, creative space where making and showing coexist naturally. It is, quite simply, a joy.

Moonstone setting in a new commission.

There is a beautiful kind of calm that comes from this unity. Materials, tools, finished pieces — all part of the same rhythm. Ideas move fluidly in the room, without interruption.

At the same time, I am no longer working in isolation. The Coach House is now home to ten artists, each immersed in their own discipline. There is something deeply grounding about this quiet creative exchange and the presence of others working with equal focus and care.

In many ways, this feels like something I have been moving towards for a long time. As a child in Denmark, I visited artists’ studios just like this — places where different practices existed side by side, where making was part of daily life, and where creativity felt both individual and communal. That memory has stayed with me, and has been something I always wanted to be a part of.

In this context, I often think of Virginia Woolf’s “a room of one’s own.” Not as isolation, but as something more nuanced: a space that is truly yours, within a wider creative world. That balance feels very present here.

The beautiful grounds at Yeldall Manor.

The surroundings also shape the experience of the studio in subtle but meaningful ways. The Coach House sits within the parkland of Yeldall Manor, and my window looks out onto a forest. The light is soft and constant, changing gently through the day. Occasionally, herds of deer pass by — almost unreal moments that seem to slow time for a second.

This environment inevitably finds its way into the work. Not in a literal sense, but in the pace, the attention to material, the sense of continuity and stillness.

Alongside images of my own studio, I am including a few glimpses of the hands at work around me:— at the potter’s wheel— in the rhythm of stitching— holding brush and paint

These are small moments, but they speak to what this place is — a shared space of making, where different practices sit alongside one another, each distinct, yet connected through process.

Moving into the Coach House has not changed what I do, but it has changed how I do it — and how it feels to do it. There is a greater sense of ease, of integration, and of quiet continuity.

It feels, very simply, like the right place to be.

Visitors are always welcome to see the studio by arrangement. If you are curious about the work, the materials, or the process, I would be delighted to show you around and share a glimpse of this creative space.

Rebecca Howard at work at The Coach House

https://www.rebecca-howard.co.uk/

Vallari Harshwal at the potters wheel.

Vallari Harshwal - Ceramicist

Ekta Kaul at work in the studio

Ekta Kaul

Sourcing Time - India

February 2026

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to come to India — not simply to visit, but to search and explore. As a child I imagined going on adventures and this journey feels, in many ways, like stepping into my own version of a gemstone-finding Indiana Jones adventure, though with more notebooks and fewer dramatic escapes.

The travel has deliberately been slow by rail between New Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, in order to take in the changing flat landscape punctuated by sandstone forts rising from geological outcrops. From a distance they feel less like monuments and more like formations — built, weathered, and absorbed into mysterious time.

I arrived in Jaipur with a clear intention: to source unusual sapphires. Their depth, colour variations, and geological history have long drawn me. But stone shopping has a way of widening focus and changing will power. As trays were opened with sapphire, moonstone, aquamarine, rubies, tourmaline, I found it somewhat difficult to resist and of course ended up with more stones that planned.

When evaluating stones I am not particularly looking for brilliance or spectacle but for presence, uniqueness, a story, or the perfect in the imperfect. A sapphire whose colour, depth and shape feels grounded, real, but mysterious rather than electric. A pale aquamarine feeling like the calm and cool of water. A moonstone whose sheen feels atmospheric rather than just decorative.

Raw sapphires with a fantastic inner glow.

Some days required patience. A stone that glows under one type of light can look different under another. I find it important to take ones time as the stones must endure beyond first attraction so I handled dozens before selecting one, which is the great advantage of sourcing stones directly.

This design is really meant for moonstones but I could not resist playing a bit with colour (emerald, ruby, tanzanite).

Travelling between cities by train, with dust in my hair and gemstones in my pocket, I felt that long arc of fascination closing in on itself — from childhood curiosity to geological study to the act of choosing stone at its source.

Sourcing directly brings enlightenment. Each gemstone carries geological time, but also labour, trade, and handling. Conversations over tea with suppliers were as important as the stones themselves — discussions of origin, treatment, cutting, and quality. Building the trust and connections is extremely valuable.

Outside the gem markets, I studied tribal silver jewellery — weighty pieces worn by women as, objects of protection and identity rather than ornament alone. Their presence seem structural and they occupy space with an admirable certainty.

Antique tribal jewellery. I found this piece so lovely I simply had to purchasing it.

The strong light in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, makes pigments fade unevenly across painted shutters and walls, leaving traces of former intensity and changing the texture of the surface. From the top of the forts, towns dissolve into haze and edges softened by distance. These are forming observations leading to thoughts about colour and light, about how surfaces endure and the textures time and light create.

To source stones directly, to see where materials move and change hands, to understand their journey before they enter my studio, deepens my understanding as a maker. Each gemstone carries geology, labour, trade, culture, and time.

This India experience has been vivid, generous and layered. Like all meaningful material research, its influence will reveal itself slowly over time. I look so much forward to starting this work and sharing it with you.

Saleel Zaman

Meet the Makers is an ongoing series featuring artists and makers I admire.

In "Meet the Makers" I share the work of artists I genuinely admire — people whose practice, values and way of working resonate deeply with my own. These are makers whose work I return to again and again, not only because it’s beautiful, but because it carries intention, story and care.

The first artist to be featured is the wonderful Saleel Zaman.

Saleel Zaman is an artist who creates extremely detailed fine liner pen drawings. He takes most of his inspiration from his rich cultural heritage with links to the Punjab, Pakistan and the UK.

 He is very fond of his family’s history, which has deep historical connections to the Indian subcontinent, Britain and the wider world due to his forefathers' service within the British Indian army. 

 Growing up he was fascinated by stories shared within the family of their culture/traditions and original ancestral roots from the foothills of the Himalayas. They also shared spiritual thoughts and activities that took place in that region.

 He is deeply inspired by these ancestral roots and likes to create art that reflects on this to make him feel more connected to his ancestors and the culture of his forefathers.

Saleel exhibits at selected venues and events throughout Berkshire. You can see more on his Instagram page www.instagram.com/Art.S.Zaman