What was it about your personal and professional journey that led up to setting up your own studio?
“I used to roam around my dad’s wood workshop in Yorkshire, terrorising his colleagues and making wooden sculptures. I’d accompany him to the demolition sites of the old mills of the North that were being pulled down; everything within the mills was meant to be burnt, however, he’d salvage wood, bobbins and cast iron objects and use the the materials to make floors and furniture out of the reclaimed timber and other items. The idea that you can make something out of nothing inspired me.
We’d also spend time at carboot sales, haggling over the prices of ceramics made in the pre Wiedervereinigung era and selling them on for a profit. The objects themselves are so beautiful and reflect an interesting era which gave me an appreciation for their design, craft and art history but equally, it was the idea that we would find one for 50p together and then I would sell it on for £17 whilst my dad was scouring the rest of the bootsale for more bargains that excited me. After school I went onto get a BTEC in Art and Design. Alongside this I was caring for children and working in nurseries.
In 2007 I moved down to London with a bunch of friends, where I worked as a nanny and here I quickly realised that I wanted to be the person making the books or animating the cartoons so I went to Central St Martins to do a short course in Art and Design. In 2009 I travelled around India, Nepal and Morocco before moving to Glasgow to get a degree in Communications Design at the School of Art. The art and music scene in Glasgow is very connected; I learnt equally as much as I did from my course from being a part of the creative community there. In 2011 I studied traditional animation in Budapest and then moved to Berlin to do an artists’ residency called TAKT. After interning with a design studio in Amsterdam, I began caring for my 103 year old grandmother in London. In 2016 I helped to set up Evening Class, a self organised design education experiment in London.”
