Octavia sees her ceramics as a hobby, a form of relaxation away from her career as an interior decorator. She came to both through a rather long and winding path; after graduating from the Courtauld Institute of Art, she joined a leading international gallery, working in both contemporary and traditional painting and sculpture and with whom she moved to New York. After three years in America, she came home, and to the BBC, to make art documentaries.
Wanting to pursue a more practically creative aspect of the industry, Octavia turned her experience in the arts to a career in interior decoration.
Octavia started a pottery class one evening a week to be able to make a plate of ceramic beans for her sister, and her love of the artform as well as sculpting food in clay was cemented.