When did you develop a passion for ceramics?
In childhood. My father worked as a designer and art teacher, and I always had access to art materials and clay, among other things. When I was five or six, I used to build cities and fairytale worlds in clay.
Why did you choose to build a career in craftsmanship?
I don’t think I ever really made a choice, exactly. After high school I thought I would do something that I really liked, perhaps for a year or two, before I continued studying. But then it just rolled on and, almost 30 years later, I am still working steadily as a ceramicist.
© Clive Tompsett
Where do you get inspiration from?
I am inspired by the materials themselves: the clays and the glazes, their resistance and formability, the transformation process from soft and moldable clay to hard and fired ceramics.
Does your work draw on tradition or push you to be innovative?
There is no unexpected technical innovation in my work, but hopefully the creative expression of my works is my own, and therefore, in combination with old materials and techniques, represents something new.