Paul Philp
UK
Paul Philp became fascinated by ceramics by the age of fifteen. His family were craftsmen and antiques dealers and he was able to handle everything from early Chelsea porcelain to Tang dynasty pottery. He started a pottery at the early age of twenty. In the 1960's it was a struggle to make a living as a studio potter. There was a much lower degree of public awareness about handmade work. In the early 1970's he lived for a time in London, worked as a garden designer and builder and taught as a visiting tutor at Central and Corsham art schools. This was a difficult but a great learning period in his life with access to the great museums and in particular Sotheby's and Christie's where he could actually handle rare and wonderful pieces. He gave up making ceramics for about fifteen years, led the 'Good Life' growing his own food, keeping pigs, chickens, geese etc. He spent many years learning to build and restore old buildings. On his return to making ceramics he wanted to create pieces with a certain classic quality of form and with a naturalness of surface quality. He was able to use his experience of building materials to incorporate some of these in achieving rugged and natural effects in his ceramics. Now, at the age of 81 he is having to learn how to create pieces on a smaller scale but, hopefully, with a lot of what he calls ceramic quality. His work is held by museums in the U.S., Canada, France and Switzerland. Paul works with Potclays' Industrial Crank 153-1153.
Image credit: Chloe Rosetta Bell / Flow Gallery
