My name is Belle and I am a potter from Bristol. I trained at Clay College in Stoke-on-Trent, an intensive course designed to teach practical and in-depth exploration of the craft of pottery. As much as I shape clay, clay is what shapes me, and influences how I interact with it as a material. I approach my making with curiosity and play, paying close attention to how the clay responds to my hands and tools. I consider how I might encourage the marks of impressed stamps to sweep or fly across a stretched slab of porcelain, or how waves of clay might ripple up a wooden rib. I seek to capture a lively and natural loose energy in my work and I draw greatly from surface quality. Whether throwing or hand building my aim is the same: to capture a sense of movement. The marks that I impress, stretch and cut help to instil a sense of me into the pots I make.