Long before she began working with clay, Kallangur artist Franci Lacquet was making and altering her own clothes, preferring to create something that suited her tastes rather than settle for what she could find in the shops.
Growing up surrounded by rural farmland, she developed an interest in nature and making things that would eventually take her into fashion, architectural design and ceramics. Each brought different materials and techniques into her life, although her preference for creating something individual remained much the same.
These days, Franci works from her home pottery studio in Ladybird Street, Kallangur, where the experience she has gathered over approximately 35 years of working with clay has become something she can share with others. The studio, known as Baobab Connect, grew out of her own artistic practice and the interest of people around her who wanted to try pottery for themselves.
An Artist With More Than One Creative Interest
Franci’s formal training in fashion and architectural design followed years of experimenting with clothing and developing her own ideas about how things should look.
Her interest in pottery began approximately 35 years ago, and her published biography describes how she subsequently worked with experienced master potters, exploring different materials, techniques and styles as her knowledge developed.
Nature remains an important influence on her work, alongside the fabrics, fibres and architectural forms that have interested her throughout her design career. In ceramics, she particularly enjoys exploring shape and colour, with little interest in following whatever happens to be fashionable.
The different influences give her plenty to draw upon, whether she is considering the proportions of a vessel, experimenting with its surface or deciding how an everyday object might be given a more individual appearance. Although her creative interests have changed over the years, Franci has retained the independent approach that first encouraged her to make and alter her own clothing.
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When Friends Began Asking to Join In
Baobab Connect developed gradually, beginning with friends and acquaintances who were interested in having a go at pottery. As Franci recalls in her published biography, the requests came from friends and then friends of friends, turning what had been an individual creative pursuit into an opportunity to introduce others to working with clay.
The studio’s name brings together two ideas. The baobab is an iconic African tree, associated in many cultures with longevity, resilience and the idea of a gathering place. The word Connect reflects Franci’s stated philosophy of bringing people together through art, creating opportunities to share experiences and learn from one another.
That approach is reflected in the handbuilding workshops she now offers from her Kallangur home, where beginners can make ceramic pieces without needing to master a potter’s wheel. Using slabs of clay, participants learn how to shape and join sections before decorating their work with colours, patterns and different surface treatments.
Projects range from mugs and vases to bowls and serving dishes, although the attraction of handbuilding is that people can make their own decisions about the shape and appearance of what they create. The work also requires patience, particularly when joining pieces securely and preparing them for drying and firing, with completed ceramics generally taking several weeks to become available for collection.
Passing On What She Has Learned
Franci’s interest in teaching did not begin with pottery. During her earlier design career, she enjoyed working directly with individuals and helping them understand the practical skills involved in bringing their ideas to life.
That experience has carried into her Kallangur studio, where she now introduces people to techniques she has spent decades exploring. The accounts published by workshop participants suggest that much of the enjoyment comes from discovering what they can achieve despite having little previous experience.
Some describe learning how to shape and decorate their first ceramic pieces, while others appreciate being encouraged to experiment rather than reproduce an identical design.
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For Franci, sharing those skills is closely connected to her own enjoyment of making things. She describes working with clay as “good for the soul”, a sentiment that helps explain why pottery has remained part of her life for so long.
Her creative interests have taken her through several disciplines, but the home studio in Kallangur has given that experience another purpose, allowing people with entirely different backgrounds to explore a craft that has occupied much of her adult life.
What began with a young girl making clothes to suit her own ideas has developed into a lifetime of working with materials, learning new techniques and, more recently, helping others discover what they can make for themselves.
Published 8-Nov-2026
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