Roger Chaplin
I first became interested in pottery while studying Fine Arts at Ilam University. In 1971 Doris Lusk my drawing teacher, who was also a very competent potter, encouraged me to get involved in the craft.
My obsession with clay lead me to set up a workshop at my home in Linwood. At around the same time I met up with Michael Trumic (a well recognised potter in his own right) who lived just around the corner. With Michael and my father’s (an engineer) help I built my first pottery kiln, a 20 cubic foot diesel kiln powered by an old vacuum cleaner.
In 1972 I purchased an old house on 2 acres of land at Coalgate, 50 kms west of Christchurch. Over the following 18 months I slowly renovated the house and moved in when I got married in 1973. This allowed me to build a larger kiln and workshop for my passion.
In 1977 I joined the Christchurch Fire Brigade and continued craft from the Coalgate building. During this period I was firing in both coal and wood fired kilns producing stoneware, porcelain and salt glazed and Low-fired wares.
The pots on my website have all been thrown and fired there using terra cotta clay and firing up to 1100 degrees C.
Most of my work is of a contemporary nature, but I have recently become interested in medieval English pottery and am producing a range of these pots for people who are interested in medieval reenactments and the age of Chivalry.
My future plans are to carry on as in the past throwing and hand making pottery and firing the work with LPG, electricity and wood which is in plentiful supply.