I HAVE FAR MORE IDEAS THAN TIME, YET I TRY TO SHAPE AT LEAST ONE IDEA IN CLAY EACH WEEK. I THINK IN CLAY, BUT I DREAM IN MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES I CANNOT CONTROL: FROM GLASSBLOWING TO WOODTURNING. I AM DRAWN TO MATERIALS THAT DO WHAT THEY WANT, BECAUSE I DO TOO.
In her work, Mickey Philips refuses to do things the expected way. Unbound by convention, she challenges the rules of the materials she works with. Trial and error lies at the heart of her practice — continuing to experiment, allowing things to break along the way. A crate filled with three hundred clay beans? Impossible, she was told. So Mickey made one.
Unrestricted by traditional product knowledge, she fully bends materials such as clay to her will, translating everyday situations into free-spirited objects.
Mickey’s relationship with clay was love at second sight. She studied Graphic Design at the Utrecht University of the Arts, but made a decisive U-turn six weeks before graduating. Instead of a graphic book, she graduated with an infographic on the Greek crisis, realised through one hundred cast clay cups. Her graphic background remains deeply embedded in the DNA of her designs.
Alongside developing her own collections, Mickey enjoys collaborating with brands and companies. Her projects range from personalised collections to ceramic furniture design.