Joe Stafford

Owner, Artist & Sculptor

Early Inspiration

Joe’s fascination with sculpture started at an early age, watching his dad making strange gargoyles that covered the house inside and out. His love of fantasy and character creation grew as he was introduced to Tolkien books and Jim Henson films. When he began watching David Attenborough documentaries, his love and fascination for all wildlife great and small began. This has been a big influence on his sculptures. 

He began his sculpting career around the age of 10 by making characters out of blue tac under his desk instead of doing school work, and gargoyles from clay when he got home. 

The Workshop

Joe always needed to create so after a break from sculpture in his teenage years,  and at the age of 24, he decided to rent a workshop with his recently retired father so they could re-kindle their passion for clay. 

Joe’s style has evolved over the years and he has experimented with different techniques, clays, and subjects. He likes to take on challenging commissions to push him into sculpting things outside of his comfort zone and improve as a sculptor. 

Developing style

Joe has always had an obsession with detail which comes out in his work in polymer clay, but has recently found his passion is working fast and loose in a much more sketchy style. Some of his influences for this style are Simon Lee, The Shiflett Brothers, and wildlife artists such as David Cooke and Nichola Theakston. 

Joe has found a love for sculpting tree ents and has always had the desire to sculpt much larger versions, but has been limited by the size of his kiln. After discovering Pal Tiya Premium a whole new world of possibilities has opened up which he looks forward to exploring, as well as teaching the techniques to anyone who wants to learn them. 

Exploring imagination

He believes that all skills can be learned and that enthusiasm, patience, and a desire to create are more important than any ideas of natural talent. 

Joe’s aim with his sculptures is simply to spark people’s imagination and love of strange, surreal, and magical ideas which we had as children but often lose as adults.