Process

My work is largely hand built using slab building and coiling techniques. I use locally and sustainably sourced clays wherever possible and work with terracotta, stoneware, and porcelain, often adding grog, shells, sand, or other organic materials to the clay to achieve the desired texture and surface.

I prefer to keep tools to a minimum and use my hands or natural found objects such as river stones or wooden paddles to achieve the organic shapes of my sculptural vessels.

To finish my work, I often use terra sigillata together with traditional hand burnishing techniques to achieve a luminous skin-like finish and a more porous surface. Made of finely ground dry clay and a small amount of deflocculant, terra sigillata is a natural gloss coating perfected by potters across the Mediterranean region over several millennia. The extremely fine particles create a surface so thin it reveals the intimate surface texture of the clay.

For other works, I use a combination of oxides, slips, engobes, dry glazes, and raw unglazed surfaces to create natural-looking finishes which harmonise with the clay body. I frequently fire my work multiple times to build up layers of colour and texture.

I work from my studio in central Te Whanganui-a-Tara and from the Wellington Potter’s Association.