My work

 I have been making pottery here in the Barrow Valley for half a century. While the muscles and bones complain more now, the passion that has taken me on that journey still burns as bright as ever.  The truth is that clay is always the master, encouraging and taunting with equal measure. Its endless possibilities are forever prompting me to do better.

Over the years I have worked with many wonderful makers and from each one, I have salvaged something that has helped me to move forward. For that I thank them. I drew my initial inspiration from the traditional pottery of the Far East, in particular Japan and Korea. Since that first coiled pot, I have learnt to throw on the potter’s wheel.

The main focus of my work now is wood-fired forms drawn from the Japanese Tea Ceremony.

I am not a devotee of Tea but I have always been drawn to the aesthetic of Wabi Sabi, the idea that beauty is to be found in simple imperfect things. Wabi Sabi celebrates the accidental and the ordinary. It eschews design or the conscious mind. I am not by nature comfortable in this landscape. I struggle to let go. When I do the results are all too often ruinous. It is in that struggle that I find the challenge. How do we recognise that beauty when we encounter it? That kind of perception can be elusive. We have only our own eye.

The great Japanese potter Shoji Hamada said -

“The pots I like, really, those are the good pots for me not more than that.”

The work I present here are the pots I like, no more than that. I hope you may find something here that you like.

The serendipitous nature of clay, glaze and the wood kiln draws me onward as I search for the perfect pot. Some day…..

This little bowl was glazed with an Apple Ash glaze. The wood came from an apple tree in my garden. I fancy that this piece could possibly be the nearest I’ve got so far to my target.

If you would like to view some work you could purchase please visit My Shop