I started making the numerals when I was on an artist residency last year at Driving Creek Pottery in Coromandel with Ben Pyne and Wendelien Bakker. Ben had brought his clay extruder along and I was desperately trying to think of something to make with it, because it seemed so much more efficient than hand building. My big brainwave was to make numerals. I had made a few numerals before, and it was something I liked to think about, variations of a form.

‍

I based the first set of numerals on the dot matrix, a retro computer font that uses a grid of tiny pins to create letters and numbers. I used a 5x5 grid of dots that I hand drilled into aluminium dies to make the first set, but it was pretty tough going on my drill bits so I had the subsequent sets of dies laser cut.

‍

Next I did the small square numerals, which are made of local Coromandel clay that we dug from the side of the road at Kūaotunu. After extruding the numeral as one long section, I then cut them into smaller 50-millimetre sections. I put two holes in the backs to glue screw threads into, as the attachment method. Both of these smaller sets were wood fired at Driving Creek, so they are a very limited edition. The wood-fire ash creates a beautiful patina, and the local clay has a lot of impurities which gives each numeral its individual character.

‍

After the residency, I made the two larger sets, again using the dot-matrix format, with the big extruder at Auckland Studio Potters. These I gas fired at home using red clays, some of them glazed with a green satin. In August, Wendelien, Ben and I exhibited the works we had begun at Driving Creek at Ben’s house in New Lynn, Tāmaki Makaurau, which had been gutted for a major renovation. The show was called As Is Where Is, and will be followed later this year with a publication, in collaboration with the Wellington writer Anna Sanderson.

‍

The numerals were successful at the show, but there were quite a few left over, so I decided to set up a website to sell them online. The website is dedicated just to selling the numerals, as a seperate project from the other things I make. I hope to continue designing and making numerals, and possibly an alphabet at some point... but right now I am busy making teapots for a show at Anna Miles Gallery in Auckland this June.

‍

Isoglyphs

isoglyphs.com

‍

‍