After completing my studies in Ceramic Design in 1990 at the Free State Technikon I immediately set up a studio and started potting.

Soon it became apparent that with so many young artists, I needed a second income to keep the boat afloat.

I took a post as a ceramic instructor at an institute for the deaf.

Teaching multiply disabled deaf persons gave me a new appreciation for many of the basic functions that we take for granted.

One of the greatest rewards is to witness the joy that shaping the clay brings to a person of limited functionality, the freedom to express yourself with a medium that is tactile, forgiving and as old as time. We should not limit or concern ourselves with to many do's and don'ts or to many books or degrees Just allow the clay to be shaped by your hands, your feelings, your "inner" self.

Moving on after eight years, I began to teach at an art school in Worcester and later in Stellenbosch. Teaching ceramic design and drawing to high school learners shifted my focus back from the industrial approach and therapy of clay to the more main stream contemporary ceramics. I was still teaching private pottery classes and running the studio part time.

When the opportunity arose to open a new studio, I jumped at the chance to once again devote 100% of my time to expressing myself in clay, in so doing swapping the classroom for the studio.