About The Shoal

The Shoal finds and imports beautiful, unique, ceramic handmade art from Sicily, selling direct to the public and into wholesale, leisure, hospitality and marine sectors.

Based near the sea in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, Pete and Diane founded the company in 2020.  The Shoal works directly with the artists themselves in Sicily.

Inspired by trying, and failing, to find in the UK a replacement for a smashed Sicilian pottery bowl, Pete contacted his son, Fraser, who works on a superyacht and happened to be in Sicily.  Instead of finding an authentic replacement bowl Fraser found the ceramic fish that we have been buying as customers for our home for the last 15 years and after many conversations the plan was hatched for The Shoal to bring this unique marine art to the UK.

The first stocking order arrived in the UK from Sicily at the end of 2020. Now we keep thousands of handmade pieces on the shelf at our Dorset HQ.

Not only selling online, but also direct to the public at shows and festivals, through stockists and more recently working with interior designers on bespoke installations, The Shoal is a start-up that aims to be different. Our growing base of diverse customers are key to scaling up, but not too far as our pieces are unique and therefore limited in supply.

Starting and surviving in the worst economic environment in decades makes us determined to continue to grow beyond our fledgling years and enter new markets with new unique pieces.