I make wheel thrown tableware from my Northumberland home studio. Pots are made in short runs, or families, to keep the balance between small scale production throwing and form making.
I like to use a rough local clay, mix up oriental style glazes using washed ash and powdered stone, and fire in a wood kiln. This I share with three other potters and we fire every 6 to eight weeks. We meet up regularly to share the work load that wood firing inevitably involves.
Before becoming a potter I studied anthropology and worked as a chef. An enduring interest in what we eat and the rituals of dinner informs my making. Influences are various. I have loved looking at Chinese and Korean pots in the Victoria and Albert Museum and using Spanish and Portuguese earthenware cooking pots over the fire. I also appreciate the clean lines and pared back Scandinavian aesthetic. I gained a Ceramics Foundation degree from Newcastle College where the teaching, from Jess Cohen, Christine Constant, and Andrew Pentland gave me a solid grounding in things ceramic. Post studies I did a placements with Danish potter Anne-Mette Hjortshøj on the island of Bornholm, and Mike Dodd in Somerset. From both these potters I learned about the joys and vagaries of ash glazes, of using ground stone and wild clay, and about taking the slow way.
In throwing vessels I am always looking for that line which hovers between the perfect curve and the one that unsettles. I see no reason why objects of utility should not also be beautiful. I try to make things that are as pleasing to use as to look at.