"Porcelain was a love-at-first-touch experience for me. Although notoriously challenging to work with, I was so drawn to the purity of the material; its characteristic whiteness, smoothness and its ability to be refined to a smooth, tactile, polished surface, that it quickly became and remains the only ceramic medium that I work with.

My work primarily utilises slipcasting methods. This is because casting in plaster moulds creates an object that is as near to 'perfect' as is possible (or desirable) in a hand produced object. Making my own plaster moulds affords me the complete freedom to cast any shape that I am drawn to. Usually these are the mundane, everyday objects that populate our lives without a great deal of thought; objects which are considered to be useful but not beautiful, and often disposable, if indeed they are considered at all. It is in this realm of the quotidian, the commonplace, the familiar, that I find my greatest inspiration.  

Although I am strongly drawn to the perfection of the slip cast surface and the cleanness, simplicity and integrity of porcelain as a material, I also love to subvert; to push boundaries both in terms of the methodology and material, and in terms of challenging my own innate perfectionism. I do this by introducing elements of hand building, altering, and other means of modifying form and surface. Hence the seams which are characteristic of the slip casting process (and usually carefully removed in an attempt to conceal the making method) are consciously preserved and utilised in my work to interrupt otherwise 'perfect' surfaces. On other pieces, nodules appear to burst from the surface, mutating the smooth exterior. Pigments are introduced as a means to transform the characteristic whiteness of the Porcelain into a plethora of tones. Most recently, I have been using marbling as a way of introducing difference to surfaces, which take on the appearance of texture and fine detail while remaining smooth to the touch. All of this takes place while preserving the clean, simple aesthetic which is at the core of my work."  

Lesley Doe