Starting from ceramic powders, a first problem to be solved consists in shaping these powders into a defect free powder compact. Colloidal processing offers the potential to reliably produce ceramic films and components through control of the initial suspension and its evolution during shaping. Electrophoretic deposition is a colloidal processing technique that allows not only to shape free standing objects but also allows to deposit thin films and coatings on substrates. One of the most attractive features however is the possibility to engineer step-graded and continuously graded functionally graded materials and components. The presence of the electric field also offers the possibility to orient anisotropic powders allowing texturing of materials. The equipment is very application specific, but can be home made at low cost. Modelling of the EPD process, especially for functionally graded materials has been successful.