I am a Canadian-born emerging ceramic artist based in Melbourne. I make wheel thrown, handbuilt and slip cast functional and sculptural ceramics. During my former career as a chef, while working at the world renowned restaurant Attica in Melbourne in 2019, I began making tableware for the tasting menu as part of the creative development team. During lock-down, in 2020, I established Attica Studio Ceramics within the restaurant. In 2021 I changed career paths and founded Claire Ellis Ceramics. My chef experience influences my work through a focus on raw materials and experimentation. Currently, my research focuses on incorporating transformed waste materials into my work, including glass, plastic and organic materials. My interests include sustainability and climate justice, and I have written an article for the Journal of Australian Ceramics on plastic waste as a local material in my ceramics practice. My debut solo exhibition 'In Any Way Shape or Form' at Brunswick Street Gallery was part of Craft Victoria's Craft Contemporary festival in 2021 and featured a hundred plates focused on form and food waste. I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work and I would like to pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.