When she was barely 30 years old, Kris Lambert had to give up work and was registered as blind. Now, at the age of 56, she's found a brand new lease of life creating pottery at home. She talks to Women's Editor Sarah Foster.

THERE'S hardly room enough to squeeze inside the door of Kris's workshop, but once inside this hallowed space it is a wonder to behold. The shelves are groaning with her pots - from rustic mugs to pasta plates in earthy shades of brown and green - and in the foreground of the scene are Kris's very latest products: a group of chocolate-coloured objects all with acid-bright insides.

Then there's the wheel with work-in-progress and the kiln that's by the door - a glance inside the sturdy oven shows another batch of pots. The only obvious concession to the fact that Kris is blind is that the plethora of jars (she will admit to being a hoarder) have giant labels on their fronts denoting what each one contains.

The tiny workshop may be cramped and overstuffed with all her things, but it is Kris's private haven where she's at her most content. She spends a large part of her time creating pots of different kinds and, while she may not have her sight, this doesn't hamper her at all. What's been a recent source of pride is having five things she has made picked out to grace an exhibition. As Kris explains, the work is based around an Oriental theme.

"I'm part of the Northern Potters' Association and recently we've set up a Durham branch," she says. "We had our inaugural area meeting at the Oriental Museum and we then spent a couple of hours looking around to get inspiration for an exhibition. We were asked specifically to theme our work towards Oriental Inspirations. We approached the Oriental Museum and the DLI Museum and hopefully in the future the DLI will come up, but the two exhibitions we have at the moment are the Oriental Museum and the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough at Christmas."

To have her artwork on display at such a well-regarded venue marks quite a milestone in her life since Kris first started to go blind. She'd done a range of different jobs, then landed secretarial work and was quite happy in her post until her sight began to fail.

"I was a secretary in an architectural practice and I think I worked for the company for about 12 years," says Kris, a lifelong resident of Durham. "I thought I'd just got eye strain and went to the optician's and he wanted to do investigations - he wouldn't just let me have glasses.

"I found out I had something called macular dystrophy, which means I've got no central vision at all and my pupils don't dilate properly in the sunshine or the dark. I think I was registered blind in 1983."

Then still quite young, at roughly 30, she found she had to give up work. It didn't help that doctors couldn't give a reason for the problem.

"We thought it might be hereditary, but we couldn't find any reason why it happened," says Kris. "It was a bit of a shock because you are ever hopeful, I suppose, but I've never been sour about it - I've never thought 'why me?'. I suppose I'm not one for letting anything beat me."

The next two years were spent in limbo as she tried to find her feet and, with her marriage on the rocks, she also went through a divorce. She tried a number of new hobbies, but found her blindness made them hard.

"I think probably about ten years ago I started going to leisure classes at New College Durham," says Kris. "I tried things like jewellery making, but everything I did was too fiddly and I lost interest. Then I joined an art class - sketching, drawing and painting - and this was quite a turning point for me really. I couldn't keep up with the class and the tutor very kindly suggested pottery to me and that's when I met Ian Harrison, who really fired my imagination."

With Ian Harrison as her teacher, then his successor, Barbara Edwards, Kris found a passion for ceramics that she never knew she had. Unlike the other things she'd tried she found it suited her abilities.

"With this I suppose I don't need my eyes," she says. "I can throw a pot with my eyes shut and it's very therapeutic. I used to think I was cheating by short cutting and finding easier ways of doing things but my lecturer said I wasn't, I was just finding my own way with ceramics.

"I can't do fine work - I know my limitations now and that's half of beating the frustration - and pure form is of great importance to me because of my lack of sight.

"My work doesn't rely on decoration - it's textured or shiny-smooth - and I use just one colour and hope that it changes in the kiln."

As Kris's confidence developed, she took an O-level and A-level. She'd love to tackle a degree, but due to problems with her back, for which she needs an operation, she feels the timing isn't right. Kris does still study hard, however, attending classes as before, and there remains a wealth of knowledge that she's eager to acquire.

"I wish I'd found this 30 years ago," she says. "There's enough to keep me busy and my mind active for the next 50 years."

It's clear that Kris still has her struggles and that life can still be tough, but now her interest in ceramics helps to fill a crucial void. She doesn't make her pots to sell, though they are bought from time to time, but loves to give them to her friends as personal gifts that they can cherish. What's helped to turn her life around has been the love of partner George, who's been a valuable support throughout the good times and the bad. Despite the problem of her blindness, Kris considers herself lucky.

"If I hadn't had this problem when I was younger I wouldn't have found all this because if you get this when you're 80 you can't pick yourself up," she reasons. "It's been a long journey, but it's been very worthwhile. I feel quite proud."

Oriental Inspirations is on at the Oriental Museum in Durham until September 30.

Mike Amos is away