I design and make furniture from a small workshop near St Ives in West Penwith, Cornwall, where I am building a practice that embraces the local landscape, its raw materials and the Penwith peninsula's huge diversity of craft. Prior to craft, I studied biology and worked in nature restoration, drawn to nature and understanding landscapes like the farm I grew up on.
My great-grandfather made furniture, and I often think about him - what it must have been like to be a reluctant farmer, quietly dreaming of making full time. I never imagined I'd find my way here, and I'm grateful for every step that brought me.
It wasn't until I met my partner, who had left science for pottery, that I began to channel my curiosity back into drawing, designing and making. I wondered if craft could be a viable path - a question settled when I met a potter still loving it after nearly 60 years. I thought, "I have to give this a go!". While clay opened that door, it is wood, trees and forests that inspire me. Furniture is how I make sense of that - shaped for the rooms and rhythms it will live within.
I am drawn to rich forest ecosystems whose health depends upon the interdependence of trees with their community of fauna, flora and fungi. That sense of harmony stays with me when I think about furniture: how it is designed to support activity, how it relates to its surroundings, and how it endures. The aim is to give life to pieces that outlast mine.