My creative process involves me using thousands of small porcelain shards, which I build one by one, to create an organic surface and sense of movement in my pieces. I create vessels that all start on the wheel and are all thrown and turned porcelain, made on the potters wheel. This gives me the starting point of a symmetrical and complete vessel form. From here, there are a number of directions I take - sometimes I cut away at the form and rebuild it, covering it with shards, giving the impression that the pot has been collapsed or grown-over. I’m interested in this contrast - the wheel-thrown form is still there but it contrasts with an organic surface and together these two opposites create something interesting. On other pieces, such as my series of nests, I cover the forms repetitively with the shards wrapping around the piece and tucking up behind each other. I started making these pieces when I was pregnant a number of years ago, and they are somehow protective - the shards are fragile but when they work together as a surface they have a protective strength to them. My wall pieces are an extension of of my work with vessels. The geometric form is cut away and grown over with sometimes tens of thousands of porcelain shards, sequentially built upon the surface.

The unique thing about the process I work with is how much time is involved in creating a piece. This is both interesting and challenging! The time component cannot be got around, each shards is individually made and placed, and I spend many hours and days smoothing and finishing my pieces. I think the time spent on them is part of their strength, and I hope it is clear to people looking at them that they are objects of love, that have been thought about and have time deeply ingrained in them.

I primarily use porcelain in my work. I love the feel of porcelain, it is smooth like double cream when in slip form, and very tactile to throw with. I like how it can be coloured to create really pure tones, and sanded to make a fired surface that is smooth like a pebble. I often make colour tests using stains and oxides in a porcelain body and I always love this part of the process — getting unexpected results from the kiln is always fun. My side project that I’ve been working on for many years now is glazing - I have a continuous series of glaze tests that I am working on, when I get a spare minute. I don’t know exactly what I am looking for from these, and I don’t know if I will ever use them in my work properly, but making glazes is my part-time obsession. This is the joy of working with clay, there is alwasy more to learn, there are always failures and there is always a piece just out of sight, which I am itching to make.