I’m constantly asking myself how can I leave this planet a little better than I found it. I never had this attitude when I was younger and I will be forever grateful that I had through this fire such a strong wake-up call. It has led me to become a flexible individual, open to changes and able to respond to the processes that are going on around me and with in my work.
It is this flexibility that had me suggesting to my wife when we moved into our new home in Byron Bay, that I would like to make driftwood furniture for it, because it had whitewashed walls and ceilings and I thought the driftwood would complement the interior of the house well. We were also on a tight budget and this was a cheap and effective way of furnishing our house at the same time with a beautiful design.
Stumbling across copious amounts of plastics on the beaches where we went to collect driftwood was a way of existence pointing to me a possible new career direction, if I was to be flexible enough to respond to what was being presented to me. What was being presented to me were tons of plastics which had washed up next to the driftwood that I so keenly had my eye on and instead of my discarding these plastics as being irrelevant, an inner voice was telling me that I could be creative with all of this stuff.
It has led me to a deep sense of care and concern for our environment which is underpinned by an excitement of the creative possibilities of working with recycled materials and has had me over the years, offering to the viewing public original and unique works from my studio.
