In Japanese culture, ‘Wabi-Sabi’ celebrates imperfections and by extension, ‘Kintsugi’ “to join with gold” those flaws, reminds us to stay optimistic.

In my ceramics I intentionally introduce or encourage flaws to develop. These imperfections are then celebrated not with gold but by stitching them together and adding adornments to further draw attention to them. The idea being that our imperfections can be both our strength and our weakness which can be tested often.

Some of my pieces are impossibly balanced and still expected to contain more than they are capable of doing so – with no allowance for the flaws and yet stay beautiful. Despite us embracing mindfulness and wellbeing, we are still expected to be perfect human beings in every way. The current obsession with halting or erasing the ravages of time and a life lived leaves no room for human imperfections. I want my ceramic pieces to be daily reminders that it’s ok to be imperfect. As we are each unique, so are my ceramic pieces.

Each begins its life as raw clay before finally emerging in its final form ready to begin a new journey gathering more imperfections and generating memories.