I started making clay works in my country of birth in New Zealand already in 1974. My first spark for clay works was ignited during the evening courses of ceramic works. Soon I already bought my own dreiser and built an oil-burning furnace in the yard.
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During my apprenticeship I attended many pottery courses in England and Wales. There I learned from renowned master potters such as David and Margaret Frith, John Maltby, Nic Collins and Micki Schloessing.
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However, I studied to be a graphic designer and after my studies I worked in the field for a while in New Zealand, London and Oulu. However, the fire to become a ceramicist got the better of me, and I started making ceramics full time. I worked at Kerman Sav for a year, but I founded my own clay workshop, Musta Lintu Pottery, in Ii municipality in 1986. I moved to Ostrobothnia in 1999, where I still continue to make clay works.
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My workshop is located in Tervajoki, in the yard of my 100-year-old house. My wife and I have been renovating an old house from the bottom of the valley into our home little by little. A few years ago, our dream of a change came true and we finally got into our idyllically renovated home.