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Simply put, I am a maker. I need to make things. 

I’m a part-time greenwood and leather worker, toolmaker and spoon carving teacher based in a small home studio in the Wellington suburb of Island Bay, New Zealand. I’m originally from the UK but with a Kiwi Mother. I visited NZ to reconnect with my grandfather in 2009 (amongst other things) and never left. My Grandfather was an engineer and grand tinkerer with an affection for wood turning, and he furnished me with the essentials of the craft. From here I discovered a passion for working with greenwood (freshly, or near-freshly harvested wood), and subsequently diversified into spoon carving.Through a desire for a holistic understanding of the craft of greenwood work I have more recently equipped my studio with a simple forge and blacksmithing setup and am producing small quantities of high quality greenwood carving tools for sale. 

I work almost exclusively with traditional hand tools, and entirely so for my greenwood work, namely axes, adzes and knives. I use no sandpaper on my spoons and very rarely on other wooden ware. This is really the only way to produce the type and quality of work i want to produce. It also demands a deeper and more thorough understanding of wood as a material, a connection to and appreciation of trees as the source of this material, and an appreciation of and respect for our ancestors who mastered this way of working (and thrived, in part, because of it). 

I use only sustainably sourced wood, primarily from species which are a pest in New Zealand (e.g. ornamental cherries and sycamore), reclaimed steel for the tools where possible, and scrap or repurposed Leather for bags and tool sheaths.

I have run greenwood spoon carving courses through various organisations and from my home since 2014 and find a deep satisfaction in passing on my passion for this beautiful craft to others.