James is a ceramic artist based in the north west of England.

After studying design at Manchester Metropolitan University James trained in ceramics near Kilkenny in Ireland where the disciplined focus on technique gave him the tools and space to discover his individual style.

It was following a visit to an exhibition at the Lake District’s Arts and Crafts House Blackwell in 2001 that his interest in Japanese ceramics took hold. The exhibition also featured work by the English potter Edward Hughes (1953–2006) whose work has remained a constant reference point throughout James’ career.

James established his studio, a converted barn in rural north Lancashire, more than a decade ago.

In addition to his previous work as a visiting lecturer at MMU, he has exhibited his work in places from the Stratford Gallery to Ceramic Art London. 

Today James’ work combines simplicity of form with thick experimental glazes and a preference for locally-sourced materials.

Taking inspiration from Japanese ceramics, his work – which ranges from generously-proportioned chargers to palm-sized tealight holders – is also influenced by the sea-glazed sand and simplicity of Morecambe Bay near his home. Solitude and open landscapes have enabled him to forge his own way and make objects that feel both honest and unique. His confident, distinctive style has been honed over years of ‘decision making’; the slow, instinctive process of working out what interests him as an artist, paring away the things that don’t matter. Often his ideas originate from his response to the process of throwing at the wheel, using a slow wheel and soft clay to record the gestures of the hand. Recently he has been exploring making at the wheel in different ways. Making simple cylindrical forms then changing them into rectangular vases and squared flasks. Although rectangular, the final pieces retain the soft character which comes about by being formed at the wheel. These are then fired on their sides to allow glaze to run around their form, producing different glaze patterns on each side. Whatever their design, James’s finished pieces all have a timeless quality, a pace or two removed from the influences of fast fashion, but always interesting and distinctively his own.