DAPHNE COX-WILKINSON

Daphne is a ceramicist & artist whose handmade ceramics are the culmination of extensive study, technique and a vivid imagination. The first woman student to win an award for Innovation & Design from the College of West Anglia. Her unconventional approach make her pots unique. Through the medium of art and ceramics her teaching career flourished, latterly running her own unit for disadvantaged children. Always searching for new ideas, she gained a BA Hons degree in Visual Studies from Norwich University of the Arts in 2007.

Her slab work reflects the influence of Bernard Leach and Japanese pottery while studying at the London Camberwell College of Art & Design - refined severity with a distinctive difference. A partnership of clay and old discarded metal add to the industrial chic appeal.

She also uses a variety of original plaster moulds made from seed pods, goat horn, coconut shells, sea urchins - even her own hand. Always experimenting. Dipping tea bags, banana skins, old bits of clothing in slip, bisque firing and glazing them. Not only are her pieces pleasing to the eye, their tactile qualities whether rough or satin smooth, add to their appeal. Her observations of the surrounding landscape mirror the colours of the glazes she uses; deep greens, smoky blues, earthy terracotta and occasionally white.

She says. "From the working of the clay, whether a pinch or slab pot, to the first firing, whether it's raku, saggar, oxidisation or reduction. The excitement of glazing. Stacking the kiln. The anxious wait. The final revelation. It's MAGIC!"