Toff Milway

Born in Preston, Lancashire in 1949, Toff was educated at Campbell College in Northern Ireland.

His first experience of pottery was in 1968 working for Christa Reichel, a German sculptress, in the south west of Ireland. He then worked in various pottery workshops, culminating in a year as manager of a production workshop for a Camphill Village Trust.

He joined the Harrow Studio Pottery Course run by Mick Casson and Vic Margrie in 1970 where he was introduced to kiln building by Wally Keeler and high fired salt-glaze by Gwyn Hanssen. A brief period in France working with Gwyn inspired him to build his first salt-glaze kiln in 1971 while still at Art School. He subsequently spent time working in Africa, France and the U.S.A.

Salt-glaze has always been his particular specialisation and even while working in Lesotho, Southern Africa, for 3½ years, he still managed to produce Salt-glaze pots.

On his return from working in East Africa in 1985 he established his own studio workshop and gallery in the Cotswold village of Conderton at the foot of Bredon Hill. He has developed his own pottery style and an increasing diversity of Salt-glaze techniques which include dipping, pouring and trailing liquid clay slips, with scraffito and roulette decoration on to a very fine Ball clay based body.

This gives him more than enough to get to grips with.

Toff is an active member of The Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen and is a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association.