What are you working on at the moment and where do you find ideas for your work?
Lighting for Soho House Paris – with this particular project, I’m collaborating with their design team.
What medium do you use in your practice and why?
It’s a multi-disciplinary practice so I’m lucky enough to use many materials including ceramic, plaster, bronze and resin.
What motivates you to make work, who do you believe has influenced your career and inspired you to start?
I’m motivated by seeing ideas realised and developed in three dimensions and finding ways and materials to facilitate this process. It might sound a cliché but I had a brilliant art teacher at school. So many people he taught, contemporaries of mine and friends are either professional artists or teaching art.
What is your favourite piece of work you have created, and why?
A great deal of my work is commissioned so it’s hard to have favourites. Most pieces have their own particular challenges both in design and fabrication but I have found it satisfying developing new materials and processes which have arisen from a multidisciplinary approach.
What is your proudest achievement?
Marrying Lucy Burley, my favourite potter… or some Islamic patterns for a Jordanian Palace.
What is the most indispensable item or tool in your studio?
Maybe a mixing bowl or a tape measure?
Where is your favourite place to see art / craft?
I don’t really have a favourite place, I think I’m now programmed to see art and design everywhere from the shape of a car tail light to a piece of ceramic. I enjoy mentally deconstructing things.
Why Farnham as a place to practise your art / craft? What is it about being part of the town that is special?
Farnham is a beautiful small town full of creative people who are supported and encouraged by the community so it’s a great place to try things and see what happens.
Can you share a craft ‘secret’ or your favourite hidden craft thing / space / memory?
Dirty water makes plaster cast better in silicon moulds. Michael Fairclough’s post office relief panels have always intrigued me.
Being part of a community of makers is…
…like having a larger family.
Maker film
Watch Ian at work.
