Phil Lyddon was born in London in 1948 and has been making pots since he was eighteen. He moved to Brighton in 1975 and has had several studios during his twenty eight years in the town. Over the years he has featured in many exhibitions, and he currently sells his ceramics in several Brighton galleries, and in galleries throughout England. He is inspired by natural forms, colours and textures.
He throws and hand-builds in various stoneware clays, making bowls, vases, and lidded pots. However, his main output concentrates on small-scale porcelain bowls. They are exclusively hand thrown. Because of the small size of his porcelain pieces, they are often thrown ‘off the hump’, which involves throwing up to nine or ten bowls from the top of a one kilogram cone of porcelain. After throwing and subsequent turning, he often distorts the piece while it is still malleable, which increases the organic qualities of the work.
He then bisque fires the pots to 1050 degrees centigrade, and finally glazes them in one of a range of semi-matt glazes, which he prefers for their tactile and visual qualities. All the pots are then re-fired to temperatures between 1230 and 1260 degrees, depending on the glaze used. Before the glaze firing, some pots have the rim decorated with a mixture of copper, manganese and red clay to give a beautiful ‘bronze’ effect. After firing, pots are often further decorated with geometric shapes using gold and copper leaf.
In 2006 Phil has applied and been selected as a Professional Member of the Craft Potters Association.
