About us

Red Mud began many years ago, not sure of the exact date, around 1988 when a young man called Patrick, decided to take the plunge and start his own business.

Patrick loved to travel and always had a passion for ceramics and sculptures from around the world. After travelling around South East Asia he decided to bring over a container of pottery from Thailand (mainly terracotta planters hence the name Red Mud) and unload it in his parents garden! 

What to do now? He opened a small stall in Camden market selling primarily pots, planters and unusually shaped vases and a few wooden carvings. As the stall became more popular, he decided to expand to Portobello market and so ran two stalls whilst steadily growing the business, selling also to a few local shops. Bit by bit he learnt more and more about pottery and ceramics and where all the wonderful places in Thailand were that he could source beautiful, different and collectable pieces.

In 1993 he met Jane, who was working in the world of print, publishing and design and also living on the Portobello Road and with that Red Mud was officially born.

The business was now taking off and Patrick had another brain wave, to convert the elegant vases and pots into lamps. This immediately made Red Mud a viable wholesale business, Red Mud had found its niche; beautiful table lamps, especially large, statement pieces.

In 2000 Jane joined the business full time and started to design and develop new products, new finishes and different mediums, like wood and stoneware, and crucially began to make the designs more tailored to their specific market, elegant lamps for the home and business. Over the next few years she put together an amazing team of like minded partners to help create their design led lighting, furniture and gifts. Thus bringing together British design and Thai craftsmanship.

The final step in the jigsaw was making their own shades. In 2006 they bought a small shade making business and now manufacture all their shades, on site, at their Somerset workshops, where they also electrify, test and certify every lamp to order. This gives Red Mud the flexibility to offer a wide selection of designs, originality, good service, no minimums, a well made product, quality and value. 

The collections grow each year, with new and interesting creations added all the time (the cool bit of the job!).

They could go on and on with stories and anecdotes but basically everyone who is involved with Red Mud wants you to love your purchase and to reassure you that a lot of time, passion and care goes into making every piece.

Thank you for looking at our website, Jane & Patrick Maunsell