I am an Irish ceramic artist, based in Hertfordshire, and make wheel thrown functional ceramics from my home studio. I work mainly with porcelain, predominantly making vases and jars; these are minimally decorated with pencil, engobes, slips, and underglazes, in thin lines, created using masking techniques, inlay and sgraffito. I work on the wheel shaping each piece until I am satisfied with the form, and only after I have turned and finished the piece, do I make a final decision on decorating. I often keep the decoration to a minimum so that it doesn’t detract from its form or function. I want each piece to be beautiful but I don’t want it to dominate but rather to blend and fulfil a function.

I create my own engobes and glazes, I use both matt and shiny glazes and my engobes or slips contain various concentrations of oxides, generally cobalt, nickel, manganese, or copper, allowing me to control the depth and variation of colour. I prefer neutral and muted colours, particularly blues, greens and greys with subtle variations, reminiscent of the beautiful Co Wicklow mountains where I grew up.