My home and studio for the past 20 years have been based in Hartland on the wild Atlantic North Devon coast, and, yes, I guess that and my love of discarded materials have been powerful influences: I use mostly relic oak from defunct barn roofs, boats, gates and fences to make elemental thrones, tables, daybeds and benches which, although they have an ancient, recently unearthed quality about them, work well in contemporary settings. The furniture is rugged, risky, energetic - functional but sculptural. The means of construction is usually very evident – maybe that keeps the work visceral and emphatically unglib.
Most of my output is commissioned – I enjoy that process: it’s rewarding, exciting, and stretches me creatively. A number of influential garden designers and stylists have asked me to make large pieces for specific projects both here and abroad. And The Eden Project has commissioned three large sculptures and a throne which have all become familiar landmarks.
I make small whimsical objects too: fruit dishes, cheeseboards, “shrines”, and naïve figurative sculptures incorporating bits of profound or querky text.