Allison Wiffen- Ceramic Jewellery

After fifteen years in the world of advertising, in the year 2000, I went back to college to retrain as a ceramic designer/maker. I went to Camberwell College of Art where I took a first class honours in Visual Arts specialising in Ceramics. Since my teens I have had an interest in both photography and ceramics and much of my work now combines the two. While loving colour I often use photographic images in black and white which are reminiscent of 50s style high contrast photographs.

I delight in pattern, particularly the convergence and crossing of lines, and patterns formed by repetition - for example looking up or down a staircase that accesses several floors. My work is often quite graphic, and I have a particular fondness for the graphic qualities of fifties fabrics especially those of Lucienne Day with their blocks of colour and linear patterns.

I am also a big fan of illustrator Ralph Steadman and his free use of black splashy text.