Simon Temblett

I first came to ceramics via the art of bonsai which I have studied for over forty years. In Japanese bonsai, the pot is no less important to the overall image than is the tree, which cannot of course survive without it, but aesthetically the pot must remain subservient to the tree within it. The size, shape and colour of a bonsai pot are all dictated by the characteristics of a given tree species, its form, and its current physical dimensions. For an imaginative ceramicist, exercising the necessary restrain demanded of a bonsai pot maker can be frustrating.

Whilst many of my pots conform to some established aesthetic rules, others most certainly do not. This departure from tradition may even lead to some new styles of bonsai. If accepted within the art these might represent the first new forms to be introduced to bonsai for several hundred years.