There's a moment on the wheel when a shape stops trying to become something and just is. A bowl finds its weight. A rim settles into the hand. Nothing needs adding.
Made here
Every piece comes off the wheel in the same small studio on Macleay Island. This boron blue clay bowl, for example, was first wedged by hand, shaped on the wheel, and gas-fired. There's no production schedule, just the rhythm of tides and weather, and however the clay feels on a given day.
Simplicity isn't a style. It's what's left when you stop adding things that don't need to be there. These items are finished when there's nothing left to take away.
Born in smoke
This vase was thrown on the wheel, left to dry leather-hard, then burnished the surface with a polished stone until it was smooth. After I carved a small pattern to add a little interest.
From the kiln it went straight into a steel can packed with paper and sawdust. The lack of oxygen forces the clay to suck in the smoke. The fire takes what it wants and leaves this deep, sooty black behind. Every piece comes out different depending on how the smoke finds its way across the surface.
Once it cooled I waxed it by hand and now it sits proudly on my living room wood stove.
"Mould clay into a bowl.
The empty space makes it useful."