Teroforma

One in a series of Teroforma Profiles.

The questions are always the same. The answers, though, are as unique as the people who gave them.

Name: Thomas Allen

Hometown: Petersfield, Hampshire, England

Occupation: Designer-maker (Ceramics)

Hobbies: Any thing outside: Walking, Camping, Sailing, Rowing

Design philosophy: William Morris said ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’ I will design only that which I ‘know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ and where possible the things I design and produce will be both.

Childhood ambition
To be an inventor.

Biggest challenge
Setting up my ceramic design business.

Favorite place
The Western Peak of Suilven (a mountain in Northwest Scotland)

Prized possession: My 55cm thrown stoneware plate.

Words worth remembering: Balance, composition, geometry and defenestration.

Working with Teroforma: My inspiration for Teroforma’s Oyyo White series was a single concept of fluid transformation from circular base into oval top – referencing the way potters alter shape with such apparent ease. I had been working on it off an on and had a small prototype which the guys from Teroforma liked when they visited my studio – I think it was a little flowerpot on my windowsill that caught their eye. Then came all the work as we turned that initial idea into the entire Oyyo series.