Ashley Thorpe is a collector of ceramics, a writer, performer and an academic. He has seriously collected contemporary British studio ceramics for almost twenty years and has extensive knowledge of the field. His first book Contemporary British Ceramics: Beneath the Surface was published by The Crowood Press in 2021. Its publication was marked by an exhibition of the same name, which was held at Eton College. In 2019, the prestigious international journal Ceramics: Art + Perception awarded him their inaugural writing prize for an essay on the work of Tessa Eastman. In 2022, he was invited to become a Trustee for the Maak Foundation, an organisation established to support and promote British studio ceramics. He currently teaches Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he gained his PhD.