Each tree vessel begins with time spent studying and connecting with a particular tree. It is an intimate encounter: a moment of stillness in which I listen to the tree’s presence, character and way of being. Its physical attributes – bark, branching structures, folds, scars and crevices – become part of this dialogue, but equally important is the less tangible exchange that takes place between us /

From Crab Apple and Poplar to Scots Pine and Sequoia, every tree offers a different encounter. Even within a single species, no two trees carry themselves in quite the same way; their individuality continually opens new possibilities for exploration /

I often begin by throwing a grounded base on the potter’s wheel, working with stoneware clay while recalling the tree and the experience of being alongside it. From there, I build slowly upwards in coils — blending, pressing, cutting and folding. The concentric rhythm of coiling echoes the growth rings through which a tree records its own passage through time. Each layer of clay similarly becomes a record of making: a moment accumulated within the life of the vessel and within my own time in the studio /

The completed surface is layered with wild clay slips that I forage from landscapes encountered on my travels, allowing earth gathered from one place to become part of an artwork responding to another. The interior is finished with glaze, creating a contrasting reflective space within the more elemental outer surface /

Every tree vessel is unique. Some incorporate woven willow or wire, extending beyond the ceramic body like searching or reaching branches. Each carries traces of a particular tree, landscape and moment of encounter, before being marked with my signature ‘S’ on the base /