Sadie Clayton was born in West Yorkshire and grew up in Mirfield, near Leeds and Huddersfield. She completed an Art Foundation course in Yorkshire before studying Fashion Design at Kingston University, graduating with a BA (Hons) in 2013.

She began her career fusing fashion and sculpture, using the body as her “canvas,” before shifting fully into large-scale copper sculpture — a material she has described as having healing properties. Early breakthroughs included a copper Christmas tree commission for The Ivy restaurant and an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Only Artists alongside designer Ron Arad.

Her work has since been shown at the Royal Academy of Arts, Tate, and the London Design Biennale, and she was one of eight highlighted artists in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition out of over 16,000 applicants.

On television, she represented the north of England on Sky Arts’ Landmark (2021), creating a 14-foot permanent copper Yorkshire rose sculpture now on display in Grizedale Forest, and later served as a mentor and judge on CBBC’s Britain’s Best Young Artist (2023). In August 2026 she joined BBC Two‘s Race Against the Tide as an expert judge alongside sand sculptor Jamie Wardley, evaluating sand sculptures on West Sands Beach, St Andrews.

Clayton lives in east London with her husband and their two-year-old son. She also runs her own kidswear brand, Playing Out, launched in 2026.