Profile

1992/1995 -  BA (Hons/3D design(Ceramics) at Surrey Institute of Art  and Design, Farnham.

1998/2014 - Lived and worked in Southern France, set-up workshop and started both weekly and residential pottery courses. Exhibited locally with mixed and solo exhibitions .

2015 - Returned to UK and set-up studio in Chiddingfold.

2015 - 2017 part time ceramic tutor at 318 ceramics Farnham

2016 - 2018 hand building workshops at Farnham Pottery ,Wrecclesham

My professional life as a potter  started after watching a wonderful short film by Sir David Attenborough on the life and work of the potter Dame Lucie Rie.  I sat in the small room at the Craft Council in London and watched as David Attenborough held her feet whilst the diminutive figure of Lucie Rie,  aged around 80 at the time, reached head first into her top loading kiln to unload her beautiful pots.  It dawned on me in that moment that it's never too late to pursue your dream and change career.  As a mature student I enrolled on the 3D design BA course at Surrey Institute of Art and Design ( as it was then) specialising in the design and production of ceramics.   This was followed by exhibitions at various galleries around the uk and also designing and producing table lamps for outlets such as John Lewis Partnershiand one off pieces for several interior designers .

I then moved to France  and began teaching ceramics, both day classes and residential courses, as well as participating in various local exhibitions. Now working in my studio in Chiddingfold having  moved back to the UK.

My process of making is predominantly coiling and slabbing, the surfaces of which are usually burnished followed by a low bisque firing. The forms are then saggar fired in a gas kiln using a mixture of sulphates, salts and other organic matter.   There is always a feeling of excitement whenever you open a kiln , a bit like christmas , sometimes you get some wonderful suprises other times a few dissappointments .  each piece is unique , no two forms will ever have the same surface decoration .

There is always something new to discover in the process of making ceramics, recently I have been working with paper clay which has changed my work considerably in both form and surface decoration . 

Exhibitions

James Hockey Gallery, Farnham

Butlers Wharf, London

'New Designers' Business Design Center, London

'Setting Out' CPA Gallery, London

The Catto Gallery, London(2 shows)

Roger Billcliffe Fine Art, Glasgow

Forest Contempory Fine Art Gallery, Guildford

Cecilia Coleman Gallery, London

Montpellier Gallery, Cheltenham

CCA Gallery, Farnham

The Railings Gallery, London (3 shows)

New Designers Exhibition, 'One Year On ', London

Decorex International, Syon Park

Design Resolutions, Royal Festival Hall, London

Fisherton Mill Gallery, Salisbury

Exhibited with New Designers In Business, Earls Court

Montpellier Gallery, Stratford-upon-Avon

Riverhouse Barn, Walton-on-Thames

Exhibition and Workshop.Farnham Pottery,Wrecclesham

- exhibition 15-26 May, private view 19th May 2017.

- handbuilding workshop 20th May 2017

The Ashgate Gallery,Farnham,October to December 2017

The Ashgate Gallery , August 2018

The AshgateGallery Lumiere exhibition Dec 2018

Claire Laughland Interiors Oct 2019

The Ashgate Gallery Dec 2019

Farnham Pottery June 2020 (cancelled due to covid 19)

The Robert Phillips Gallery solo exhibition , 16 -27th Sept 2020 (cancelled due to covid 19,now showing online)