Were you creative as a child?
Yes, I was always practical and hands-on – Meccano kits, fixing my bike, making a model railway, watching my Dad doing DIY around the house, and my mother also sewed and knitted. At school, I was frustrated I couldn't choose to study both woodworking and metalworking.
How is your craft linked to your location?
Rather than linking myself to the craft traditions of London, I see my designs as being drawn from the territory in which I live and work, in terms of its visual structure and iconography: storage containers, processing depots, grain silos and the linear structures that support and link these forms.
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What are your specialist skills?
Hand woodworking. I enjoy the challenges and process of working with traditional techniques. However, the work needs to be a vehicle for more than my skill as a maker – the intention is to establish a fruitful dialogue between improvisation and control. I am interested in the work's place in the world.
Which artists inspire you?
Robert Rauschenberg, Phyllida Barlow, David Smith, Richard Serra and Eva Hesse spring to mind, among many others. Across all of this I think I respond to precision and control, rhythm and space, and the expertise to convey something beyond its making.