Publications

Virtues of Unity

Virtues of Unity

 An installation representing virtues of humanity by Halima Cassell

A publication about "Virtues of Unity" with a essay by Andrew Lambirth and artist statement by Halima explaining the concept, ideas and process behind the creation of this installation.

"Virtues of Unity, it is about the human condition and, fundamental to our perception of this, unity through diversity. Halimas idea is to make at least one sculpture to represent each country of the world..." Andrew Lambirth 

Designed by HLJ Marketing 

Available from: The artist for £7.50 plus £1.50 postage and packaging, please use the PayPal link below:


Dreams Made Manifest

Dreams Made Manifest

ISBN 978-0-9539636-4-5

This publication includes an interview with the artist and contributions from writers internationally acclaimed in the fields of sculpture, architecture, ceramics, craft curatorship, art sponsorship, critical thinking and journalism.

Cassell’s Work Is Subliminal in its originality, having no parallel in the sculptural or crafts genres, whose borders it crosses.” Jean Vacher, Collections Manger, Crafts Study Centre, Farnham

Her profound understanding of the geometric rules governing any given pattern, allow her to bend, or even break them.” Peter Randell-Page, Sculptor

Halima’s work demonstrates incredible dedication and energy; one thing is clear, she will be among the future pathfinders and leaders.” Alan Grieve, Chairman, The Jerwood Foundation

Designed by REFORM | Available from: Out of print


Carved Earth

Carved Earth

ISBN 0-9545563-4-8

Carved Earth: Sculptural Ceramics brings together over thirty newly-commissioned artworks by the inspirational ceramicist Halima Cassell. Conceived by Shisha – the international agency for contemporary South Asian crafts and visual arts – in partnership with Bolton Museum and Art Gallery.

This unique publication features an enlightening essay and review by Emmanuel Cooper and Jonathan Harris respectively, both of which give the work a broad appeal.

Cassel’s recent work celebrates influences of both Islamic and African architectural patterns – beautifully articulated by Dalu Jones

Islamic art is an art of repose, intellectual rather than emotional, where tensions are resolved. It is a conceptual art where questions and answers are finely balanced.

Designed by REFORM | Available from:  Out of print


‘Light Structures’, Halima Cassell at Blackwell

‘Light Structures’, Halima Cassell at Blackwell

ISBN 978-1-906043-13-1

The publication is an overall insight of the solo exhibition of Halima Cassell at Blackwell, Windermere, with an insightful essay by Andrew Lambirth

Halima Cassell is a maker of considerable versatility, who has extended her signature work in clay to a range of new materials, including marble, glass and porcelain.”

Her main preoccupation and sculptural impulse is to penetrate beneath the skin of the form to reveal the structure within – the crystalline seed of the stone, or the skeleton-like armature she perceives within the clay. She does not carve exteriors but reveals interiors – the folded abstract inner landscapes of her singular and highly imaginative vision.


Fondazione SEM, Halima Cassell, Residency in Pietrasanta, Italy 2011

Fondazione SEM, Halima Cassell, Residency in Pietrasanta, Italy 2011

Diary of events, by Halima Cassell for her three months spent in Pietrasanta, Italy.

Foreword by Helaine Blumenfeld OBE FRBS Dlitt

She set very high standards for herself and was tireless in her efforts to reach them. After just three months she was able to carry out complex, compelling, delicate and dynamic work.

She was sketching constantly and continually sought to transpose her drawings into sculptural forms. The surface, as well as the shapes, emerged together in sculpture which often combined enormous complexity with simplicity and unity.”

Available from: Keara McMartin | e: info@studiosem.net | Studio SEM, Pietrasanta, Italy


Araam: Breathing Space

Araam: Breathing Space

ISBN 978-0-9567755-1-1

Araam was conceived to enable ‘breathing space’ for both artists to research, develop new ideas and experiment with creative disciplines. Whilst Cassell and Hussain use very different artistic mediums, both are inspired by their ancestral heritage, and Islamic influences from pattern and architecture resonate throughout their work.

Lucy Forsyth, Freelance writer and Yoga teacher 
One reading that can be made of Halima’s work is that she, as Other to the Modernist canon, as both female and from non-western culture orientation, has been working from this position of marginality. Her work can be seen as questioning the formalism of this object-based Modernism and challenging its perception of beauty. Every new project and every new pioneering adaptation of forms, materials and techniques illustrates this.

Duad Sutton, Cairo
Drawing freely on a wide range of influences, such as Islamic geometric art and African carving, her work elicit a similarly wide range of responses in the viewers. It is often difficult to draw on such a range of sources without falling into pastiche and Cassell has managed this admiral. Her works appears both ancient and contemporary, and could hail from any of several continents, but always read as balanced integral wholes.

Designed by REFORM | Available from: The artist |  e: info@halimacassell.com


Earth | Atmosphere

Earth | Atmosphere

Ceramic by Halima Cassell
A series of four exhibitions which were part of ‘The Shape of Things (TSOT),’ a new body of work in response to ‘Identity & Culture,’ essay by Elli Herring

Cassell’s work encompasses and generates complexity and surprise. All of her sculptural work shares a language of geometry and volume but each is intriguingly different.

Available from: The artist | e: info@halimacassell.com


The Pot Book

The Pot Book

ISBN 978-0-7148-4799-3

By Edmund de Waal, published by Phaidon 2011

The Pot Book is an accessible and informative A-Z guide to over 300 makers, schools and styles of ceramics from around the world. Include some of the earliest examples of pottery through to contemporary works by studio potters and artists alike.

Available from: Any good book shop



  • Her main preoccupation and sculptural impulse is to penetrate beneath the skin of the form to reveal the structure within – the crystalline seed of the stone, or the skeleton-like armature she perceives within the clay. She does not carve exteriors but reveals interiors – the folded abstract inner landscapes of her singular and highly imaginative vision.
    – Andrew Lambirth, Art Critic - Spectator Magazine

  • …Although Cassell is creating in different media – and respecting the unique characteristics of her material while doing so – she is also intent on discerning just how bronze, glass, marble and clay can ‘speak the same language
    – Ian Wilson

  • It is not easy to put into words the effect that Halima Cassell’s remarkable ceramic sculptures have on you when you first encounter a well displayed section of her work
    – Zachary Kingdom

  • I find her work uplifting, I would never consider buying it solely as an investment
    – Eric Knowles (Ceramics Expert)

  • Her signature material is clay, which she moulds and carves with natural authority and no little dexterity. Her crisply cut and satisfying forms live on in the mind… She is a force of nature.
    – Andrew Lambirth, Art Critic - Spectator Magazine

  • The most inspiring ceramic work I have seen in thirty years! Beautiful, mesmerising, powerful and thoughtful. Genius! Love, love, love this work.
    – Judith Ramsgate, 53 years old

  • Working mostly with ‘naked clay’, that is without the use of glaze or slip, Cassell first carefully carves and then smoothes and burnishes to remove any blemishes, so virtually making the surface ‘ disappear’, leaving the form clean and prominent
    – Emmanuel Cooper

  • Beautiful – amazing to see someone work with such a variety of material to create such stunning, intricate pieces. I can imagine them out in the world, near water and nature. Beautiful, thank you.

  • Cassell’s Work Is Subliminal in its originality, having no parallel in the sculptural or crafts genres, whose borders it crosses.
    – Jean Vacher, Collections Manger, Crafts Study Centre, Farnham

  • She was sketching constantly and continually sought to transpose her drawings into sculptural forms. The surface as well as the shapes emerged together in sculpture which often combined enormous complexity with simplicity and unity.
    – Helaine Blumenfeld OBE FRBS Dlitt