Paul Philp has been making pottery for forty years. Paul does not coil or use slabs, each piece is built by hand. A slow process, but one which allows the work to evolve naturally. He often combines a mixture of clays which, because of the different shrinking ratios, cause cracking and fissures. Ceramic colours are used only with restraint. Experiments with different forms of crude iron, often combined with tin oxide, have resulted in a range of extraordinary deep red surfaces.

Though all work is fired to about 1260 C, the length and number of firings and the finishing techniques differ as each piece is unique. Many can be fired up to five times. Slips and a very basic dry ash glaze may be applied in varied ways. Dipping, dry glazing over a raw or fired-on slip, creates great difference in the finished result.

As well as developing his skills and ideas as a potter he has spent much of his time learning to build in traditional ways. He is also interested in literature, in ancient culture, oriental art.