Biography

In the Old Walled garden of Troy Manor house is a glass walled studio that has been my creative home for the past 6 years. From this beautiful location in an area of registered national parkland and surrounded by listed buildings and historic features I run an array of workshops and create my own collection of delicate porcelain ware. 

The old cherry orchard is the ideal location to focus on creative projects and escape from the real world for a while. 

 I completed my Degree in Ceramics under the tutelage of Mo Jupp, Nick Homoky and Walter Keeler at UWE in Bristol. It was the first opportunity that I had to fully immerse myself in the materials and processes that had fascinated me since I was a child. I started my degree determined to be a sculptor, but it quickly became clear that I had developed an obsession with wheel thrown ceramics and functional ware that has shaped my working practices ever since. 

My early work consisted entirely of tea and coffee sets. In a fast moving, disposable society where paper and polystyrene were common place the ceremony of tea and coffee drinking and the ceremonies surrounding food more generally were increasingly lost. I sought to preserve and revive our interest in the ceremonial aspects of drinking; my work was intended to hold small amounts of very rich, expensive tea and coffee. They were deliberately delicate to force the user to slow their actions and savour the experience of drinking.

My work extended into delicate laced rimmed bowls, small plates and some larger cups, enabling the user to bring the sense of ceremony into their day to day lives. 

To complete these sets, I have always made delicate porcelain spoons, with the intention that they add to the sense of ceremony. 

Recently these spoons have become a more detailed and intricate part of my work. I became interested in the symbolism associated with spoons. My studio, situated in an area of historic welsh parkland, was the ideal location to explore the welsh obsession with spoons, given traditionally as a symbol of Love, from husband to wife. 

My spoons, made from delicate porcelain and high fired, have grown from their functional roots into more symbolic and historically inspired pieces. Strongly associated with the tradition of Welsh Love Spoons they are complex structures of delicate, interwoven forms. Representing our friendships, relationships and families, they speak of the beauty and complexity of modern relationships.