Teroforma

March 31, 2009

Profiles // Thomas Allen

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.