My love of ceramics, well clay really, started at the age of 16.

I have always enjoyed making and at my school we studied woodwork and metal work as well as art, sciences and the classics.

I was okay at these subjects but when I was introduced to ceramics, I really had found my soul mate medium.

My teacher was a Welshman from the valleys, Dai Jenkins, lovely man. This was very much at the time of the crafts revival of the craftsmen potters of South Wales.

Out of interest, the Oxford and Cambridge boards had added ceramics to the list of O Level subjects. I and my tutor took the exam, he got grade 3 and I got grade 2, but I’m sure there was some jiggery pokery going on!

I was awarded a place at Southland’s College Wimbledon, well known for its ceramics, to study teaching the arts. Sadly, because of the untimely death, of my parents, I did not complete this course and went on to work in interior design related subjects specialising in Furniture and Interior Architecture.

I moved to India at the end of the 20th century to build on a furniture company we had developed just outside Delhi. Working with craftsmen, was such a joy and we built factories employing over 2000 people. Engaging with skilled craft folk who were use to working entirely by hand and introducing them to modern technology was the most enjoyable challenge.

I follow the ‘Unto This Last’ philosophy of John Ruskin. Although I passionately believe ‘You must make a tool of the creature or a man, you cannot make both’. I found a satisfying way of uniting and progressing the thought.

Around this time, I was re introduced to ceramics by the art teacher at my daughter’s school Dr Kristine Michael.

Her PhD subject was ceramics based. She invited me to a workshop forming the classic ubiquitous Indian vessel the Matka. Amazing. Suffice it to say things progressed from there, and I set up a ceramic studio with a decent sized kiln and three electric wheels.

I worked with a local potter, ‘Kumar’ in Hindi, Suresh. My interaction with him and his family was superb. Working in India, you learn to realise that initially perfection in form is not easy.

My furniture in the UK was very high end and couldn’t initially be replicated India, as the industry had not progressed sufficiently at that time.

The situation led me to study the Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi, which is very much present in my work.

Going back to early beliefs. I found working with clay, inspired by the teaching that ‘from dust you were made and to you dust will return’ motivating. I found creating masks, putting form to a face, fulfilling. I work in terracotta, because it is the dust of the earth and my finishes, which included gold leaf, give a contrast to the very basic material that I love.