Carys Davies

With a degree in engineering and many years' experience as a management consultant to the industry, in 2004 Carys left her job to start a degree course at Harrow School of Art in ceramics. Qualified, and now an assistant to Edmund du Waal, she is in an inspiring environment to develop her own work.

So are there any links between these apparently different careers? Carys thinks there are: primarily the rigor of process, consideration of the stages of development, and the distillation of complex issues into straightforward solutions. But there is less rational thought and more 'feeling' now, which she describes as "thinking with her hands".

Carys works with porcelain, a plastic material which softens under extreme heat, becoming jellylike and liable to change shape. She loves this character of her chosen medium, delighting in its nature and playing on the anomalies.

Her pieces are quite unique - the outside of her volcanic bowls like pitted pumice, the inside delicately glazed in soft pearlised colour. The shapes are simple but the contrasting textures produce a tension and energy, the rough exterior protecting a delicate inner lining.

Other works are more complex in their structure, but also focus on the pliability of porcelain and the juxtaposition of textures. Cup-like pieces piled together, collections of tiny cylinders, plain forms on baroque bases.

It's still early days for Carys, but she is producing unusual, intriguing, high quality work. So I am very pleased to be showing a selection of her pieces in our Autumn Exhibition.