My Story
Just as a chef strives to create a perfect dish, I strive to create a perfect pot: balanced, simple, functional. Making pots is a life-long journey, and I am continually refining and honing my skills through practice and repetition. The pursuit of my goal is an unending one, and one that I relish, as I know I am fortunate to be doing what I love every day.
It is a pleasure being able to eat the food I love cooking from the pots I love making. My wish is that this pleasure is shared when my pots are used in their new homes.
From my early days at Loughborough College of Art and Design, where I began to find my direction and a natural affinity with clay, throwing has always been my preferred method of making pots.
I have discovered that for me, working with clay is a contradiction between being intuitive and being deliberate. I am continually asking myself, ‘Does the form tell me what it wants to do?’ Does the handle say ‘Pick me up!’? Does the spout say ‘Pour me!’?
Making pots isn’t a job, it’s a way of life, an obsession, a devotion.
Matisse is reported to have once said ‘Never a day without a line’ ... for me there is ‘never a day without clay.’
Processing and preparation are key. I plan and visualise my work mentally before I begin, usually while I weigh then wedge my clay and prepare to throw. The act of preparing the clay imparts the space for an idea to evolve; the act of throwing a pot allows for its materialisation.
The Bauhaus/Corbusier mantra of ‘form follows function’ drives the
development of my work and informs its simplicity and purpose.