Paul Dalrymple

Price Range €120-€380

Paul's fascination with making and designing has run through his whole education and working life, pursued across two materials he loves equally: clay and food.

He first fell for clay in education, drawn in by the endless possibilities of building techniques and material. Working with clay, he found, made it possible to create without limitation — with controlled techniques he could build remarkable forms, and with firing and glazing he discovered he could make unique work that is both practical and visually striking.

His work is influenced by the qualities and textures of the materials around us: wood, pebbles and rocks in nature, and the beauty of industrial surfaces such as concrete or worn brickwork. He explores them in their weathered state to suggest a sense of growth — embellished evidence of a story of what conditions they have survived.

Ceramics, to Paul, is fascinating and endless: raw material dug or mined from the ground, fused with fire. Equally primitive and technical, it keeps him challenging himself, and he believes clay will never run out of possibilities for him. He takes pleasure in understanding a material's properties, learning to control its wild tendencies during making, and nurturing it along its journey from the ground to a finished piece.

In the making, clay is immediate — it lets creativity flow, and it is physically demanding yet responsive. The combination of clay, glaze and fire is what captivates him: he tests to reach a degree of understanding of the outcome, but loves that every piece from his materials and techniques will be unique. He never tires of the anticipation of opening the kiln door.