I like making things out of all kinds of materials: cardboard, paper, wood, clay, cake, even jelly. And I also like challenging the assumptions we make about materials.  So I make things that should be rigid from materials that wobble, and things that are floppy from materials that are stiff. This is where architectural jelly and porcelain bow ties come from.

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It's all a reaction to my day job.  What's that? Well, after studying architecture, I specialised in historic buildings conservation. In this time of climate change, social challenges and austerity, my job can feel pretty serious. Maybe that's why I'm spending more and more time in the workshop, playing around.

 

In the first century BC, the Roman architect Vitruvius said that the three requirements for a well-designed building are utilitas, firmitas and venustas (comodity, firmness and delight).  In my extra-curricular work I like to fool with comodity and firmness... but delight is always the objective. My goal is to create things that are beautiful, characterful, useful(ish), and cool. That give pleasure, since I get so much pleasure making them.

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