1.What general skills & techniques do you use ?
I use a combination of throwing and slab building to produce my work, but I continually try different methods of working to refine and reduce my contact time with the clay.
2.Tell us about your experience and knowledge
Where have you studied and learnt your skills ? I studied at Mid-Warwickshire College where I was taught by my Mum, progressing on to Birmingham Polytechnic where I studied industrial ceramics. After graduation I went to work in a small pottery producing slip cast pottery before going into teaching for a short period that turned into teaching for a long time.
I always wanted to get back to making but in a way that was more related to a small workshop/studio environment.
Who has inspired you along the way ? I have a wide interest in pottery styles, but the work of Hans Coper, Robin Welch and Anne Mette Hjortshøj have particular appeal because of their integrity.
3.Please explain your work – processes involved, clays used, firing range.
I have developed my current practice, with thrown, slabbed and press moulded pots, made with Sven Bayer wood firing clay from the Valentines Professional range, which are ash glazed before firing in a wood-fuelled kiln to 1280 degrees. An interest in how things change and develop as they are uncovered, worn or grow, influences the pots I produce. The aim is to produce work that is visually stimulating, with appealing tactile qualities, to enable a multi-sensory appreciation. Hot pots to handle.
4.What has been your proudest piece that you have produced and why ?
I suppose my first piece of work, an earthenware football would rate as my proudest at about ten years old, and determined my goal to become a potter.
5.What are your future ambitions ?
To develop my own clay recipe and have one of my pots in the collection of each of the potters whose pots I have in mine.
Visit their website: kimfordpottery.co.uk