Get as good an education as you possibly can, go to university and study at the best places with the best staff. Be determined and never let anybody say you can’t do it.
What is your job?
I'm an Applied Artist and Designer at London Met.
What does your job involve?
I design and make watches and clocks as well as all sorts of other things but I am best known for timepieces. My work encompasses making everything from tiny watches to huge architectural sculptures. I can be in the workshop making an intricate piece one day and the next find myself up scaffolding fixing huge pieces of metalwork and glass together. It is never boring.
How did you get to this point in your career?
I have always responded well to exciting possibilities and many of my best projects have been ones that came unexpectedly and I always take a good opportunity when it comes. To get these opportunities has meant being very proactive in looking at what is around and going on. Opportunities are out there but unless you are out there too they will pass you by.
What training did you do and where?
Middlesex (BA Hons)and the Royal College of Art(MA RCA) - both brilliant places to learn.
Which piece of work are you most proud of?
I would have to say two pieces in particular. One is just finished, Palaeolith is a wristwatch made using cutting edge technology alongside craft skills. For a larger example I would have to say the Portishead Timeline project. This extended for several hundred yards through a shopping area starting with a sculpture and following a lit line of sunken lights and huge spheres to another sculpture at the other end.
What do you need to succeed in your industry?
Tenacity and enthusiasm are the main ingredients and it really pays to have a sense of humour!
Who’s your work hero / heroine?
Leonardo Da Vinci for his fantastical capacity for inventive ideas and Michael Rowe for his beautifully thought through iconic vessels.
What inspired you to do this type of work?
Originally I was a silversmith looking for a purpose! I wanted my work to be genuinely useful as well as something to adorn a body or a space. The work I do now is less concerned with primary function and has many other reasons to be alongside it’s usefulness.
What do your friends/family think of the work you do?
My father was always amazed at what I could do. He came from an era when girls didn’t work and stayed at home so it must have been a bit of a shock to have had me as a daughter. My mum still thinks that everything I do is fabulous but then she would have thought that even if I was a hygiene operative!
What are your tips for anyone wanting to do your job?
Get as good an education as you possibly can, go to university and study at the best places with the best staff. Be determined and never let anybody say you can’t do it.
Creative inspirations
The idea of time
All my work is about that one way or another.
Water
Its effects on materials over time.
Old marine instruments
For their weathered and worn feel.
Prehistoric arefacts
Particularly stone age tools.
The Architect Frank Gehry
For the spaces and volumes he creates.
The Silversmith Michael Rowe
For the same reason as Gehry!
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake
The best book I have ever read.
Beethovens Francesca Da Rimini
It made me read....
Dante's Inferno
Truly evokative imagery.
My son
For his lively mind and challenging questions!
If you would like advice on creative careers and courses, contact a Creative Way Careers Adviser - either Matt Ball on m.ball@uel.ac.uk / 07889 001764 or Sarah Comerford on s.comerford@uel.ac.uk / 07515 051509.