Our business was established in 2011 as a partnership between Kenneth Watt and Dana Norris. Since then we have been based in Oxford working with museums, collectors, and art dealers.
Kenneth studied Ceramic Design at Glasgow School of Art for four years, completing his Diploma of Art in 1973. After working as a studio potter for two years, he joined Glasgow Museums in 1975 as a Ceramics Conservator and cared for the decorative art collection for the following decade. In 1986, Kenneth left Glasgow to lead the post-graduate ceramic conservation course at West Dean College where he taught for twenty-three years. Throughout his career, Kenneth has been involved with UKIC (now Icon, the UK based Institute of Conservation) and was the elected Chairman of the Ceramics and Glass Group from 1989-93. He was awarded the inaugural Nigel Williams Prize in 2002 for his lifetime achievement in the field of Ceramic and Glass Conservation.
Dana is also a formerly trained ceramicist, completing a BFA at Kent State University in 2002. She majored in Ceramics, minored in Jewellery & Metals, and completed advanced coursework in Glass and Textiles. She worked as a studio potter before training in conservation in 2004-06. As a conservation student, she gained work experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; this was followed by a sequence of fixed term contracts at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology between 2008-13. Dana has been actively involved with Icon since its formation in 2005, becoming an accredited member in 2012, and volunteering on the Ceramics and Glass Group Committee from 2016-21. She was awarded a PhD by Cranfield University in 2021, where her research focuses on the technology and conservation of Chinese painted enamels and related materials including other enamelled metals, porcelain, and glass. Dana currently works part time as a Senior Conservator of Ceramics and Glass at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. A list of her publications can be found on ResearchGate. Dana is a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University where her research continues at the Cranfield Forensic Institute; for queries regarding scientific analysis and research get in touch at d.norris@cranfield.ac.uk.
“Accredited status demonstrates that a practitioner is a fully-qualified and capable professional. The PACR accreditation framework applies a common standard across the profession, regardless of the route you have taken to reach a professional level of capability, your specialism, or the context in which you practice.” www.icon.org.uk