Philip Lyddon

Born 1948, London. Lives and works in Brighton.

Phil Lyddon was born in London in 1948 and has been making pots since the age of eighteen. He moved to Brighton in 1975 and has had several studios during his forty years in the city. Over the years Phil has run several ceramic evening classes in Brighton. He currently works from a studio in Richmond Street, and teaches ceramics part time at a day centre for adults with physical disabilities. In 2010 Phil was selected as a Professional Member of The Craft Potters Association. His work has featured in many group and solo exhibitions, and is currently available on sale in several Brighton galleries, and in galleries throughout England.

‘I throw and hand-build in various clays, making bowls, vases and sculptural forms. My main output is concentrated on small-scale porcelain and white stoneware bowls which are exclusively hand thrown. Because of the small size of these pieces, they are often thrown ‘off the hump’, which involves throwing up to nine or ten bowls from the top of a one kilogram cone of clay. After throwing and subsequent turning, I often distort the piece while it is still malleable, which increases the organic qualities of the work. I am inspired by natural form, colours and textures.

I then bisque fire the pots to 1050°C, and finally glaze them in one of a range of semi-matt glazes, which I choose for their tactile and visual qualities. All the pots are then re-fired to temperatures between 1230°C and 1260°C, depending on the glaze used. After firing, pots are often further decorated with geometric shapes using gold and copper leaf as well as various lustres.

More recently I have also been making larger pieces using heavily grogged clay, turning them to increase the roughness of the texture and firing them with a mixture of oxides to produce a black metallic effect, with a dolomite glaze on the rim. This glaze picks up the copper in the oxides to produce interesting colour variations including subtle pinks and browns.’