In 1962 he started his own pottery workhop in an Islington basment, and in 1967-8 he worked at the Royal College of Art on a pottery fellowship. Over the next years his work was widely exhibited, and in 1974 he was awarded the gold medal at the Faenza international competition.

In 1975 he moved to Denmark, where he set up and ran a domestic pottery workshop in Jutland. He returned to London in 1980, starting a new workshop in Highgate, which continued until his death in 1992.

Although from the start Ian Godfrey shared his workshops with other potters, he developd an entirely individual style, with his own techniques - notably carving the almost dry clay with a penknife - as well as a personal repertory of forms.