Kate Hopkins-Searle was born in Norwich in 1962. She studied at Great Yarmouth College of Art and Design and Loughborough College of Art and Design, graduating in Three-Dimensional Design in 1984. Early in her career, she exhibited and sold her ceramic work through a number of London outlets, including Liberty of London, before going on to teach art in secondary schools.

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In the late 1990s, Kate worked in the costume department of the Sydney Opera House, where she learned the craft of traditional shoemaking. After returning to the UK, she established her studio practice creating Glacé Slippers, combining her training in ceramics with her knowledge of footwear construction.

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Kate has been fascinated by shoes from an early age. While she has explored other ceramic forms, it is the shoe that most fully embodies her interests in design, surface and ornament. Her work is influenced by historical costume, fashion and decorative artefacts, with Rococo aesthetics forming a particular strand within her practice. Each pair is conceived as a luxury, collectable object, characterised by intricate surface detail and elaborate decoration.

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Her working process begins with drawing, both on paper and in three dimensions, before each shoe is built by hand in clay. Decorative elements are modelled individually and carefully painted and glazed. The resulting pieces are produced slowly and precisely, requiring many hours of skilled making and finishing.