Failures are often a more powerful creative force than successes (and certainly much more frequent), yet I revel in unpredictable outcomes. Every step is a new step: what can I discover next?

My introduction to ceramics began as a child in Greece, where I was born, but I only touched clay fleetingly. My formal studies took me in a very different direction (a university degree in Zoology and Botany) and my profession in yet another, embarking upon a career in finance that took me to Japan.

Over the past year my curiosity has led me to discover the infinite clay textures that can be obtained by taking advantage of an extraordinary property of latex balloons: expansion and contraction on an enormous scale. Used as armatures for applying novel mixtures of porcelain clay and binders of all sorts (paper and glass fibre, gums and glues) – but removed before firing – I have explored the creation of ‘vessels’ of unusual translucency, movement, delicacy and beauty.