About Me

I grew up in Auckland, New Zealand and apart from a short stint in Wellington, have lived in the Auckland region all my life. We’ve lived in rural north west Auckland for the past 20 years.

I married Carl in 1988 and we have two daughters whom we homeschooled for the better part of ten years. During that time I had a small cottage business supplying my hand-made tag cards to several florist shops around the city. In 2007 when the children decided to go to high school and I had some free time, I developed some educational board games, most notably The Amazing Moa Hunt, which was commercially successful in the mainstream market nationwide.

I started dabbling in clay as a hobby, which fulfilled my need for making stuff. Eventually I bought a second hand kiln and started supplying a few outlets so I could keep making more work. A local friend and professional mold maker taught me the art of making molds, which added to my tool kit.

My aesthetic reflects my childhood love of the sci-fi TV shows of the ’70s. Shows like Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Logan’s Run, Planet of the Apes, Thunderbirds and Star Trek captured my imagination.

Creating the shapes is my favourite part of the process of making ceramics. Any surface decoration serves to highlight the shape as the prominent feature.

My Motto: – Don’t wait till you’re good enough, or for permission, to try.

My Studio

I work from a tiny studio adjoining the house and now have two small kilns in a space in the garage.

At the moment I’m sharing my studio with two recovering hedgehogs and two elderly cats. Often times it’s also home to sick hens or injured birds. It’s possibly more accurate to say they share this space with me.

I’m reluctant to call myself a potter when all my work is hand built and slip cast from the molds I make. Often the people who buy my work are not your typical buyers of pottery.
Although the majority of my work is functional, the aesthetic is always given priority. As each mug takes 3-4 hours hands-on time to make, it’s unlikely I’ll ever call myself a production potter either.