Lisette Chesshire - pottery and house signs

After gaining a degree from Oxford university, Lisette had a brief career as an actress, both in Repertory theatre and in Theatre-in-Education. She then spent some years teaching in schools, before settling in Birmingham and raising a family.

Whilst there she spent ten years at Stone Hall Adult Education Centre, teaching pottery and other crafts to adults, including groups with learning difficulties and physical disabilities. She also ran classes for families, teachers and in local schools. Most of her students came purely to enjoy themselves, but a good number also studied for and achieved a City and Guilds in pottery.

In 2000, Lisette made the move to West Wales, to concentrate more on developing her own work. She set up a studio at Waunifor, in Maesycrugiau. Here she developed a range of distinctive tableware, known as "blue dragonfly" which is sold mainly through the Makers' Mark.

This is all hand thrown and hand decorated, using stoneware clay and wax resist decoration. The range includes mugs, jugs, plates and bowls of various sizes, as well as casseroles, cheese dishes and vases. Items can also be made to order.

She also makes one-off items, such as large stoneware vases and handthrown earthenware plates and dishes painted with underglaze colours,also available mainly through the Makers' Mark. In addition, she makes house names and numbers to order, hand made and hand painted, in earthenware. These can be viewed on www.housenames.biz.

Whilst teaching pottery in Birmingham, Lisette discovered that many of her students found learning pottery very relaxing, and that being creative contributed enormously to their well-being. From her studio at Waunifor, as well as running small informal classes for local people, she also runs residential pottery and craft holidays, details of which can be found on www.craftybreaks.com.

Waunifor is a beautiful residential centre, set amidst the rolling hills of the Teifi valley.It is a complex of traditional stone cottages and a mansion house, in a peaceful rural setting. A purpose built studio is one of a number of new buildings under construction on site, partly funded by money from Europe. The cottages here can also be booked for holidays - www.waunifor.com