Describe what you do. What materials/techniques do you use?
I make lighting from metal, paper, glass and wood. With so many materials lots of techniques are involved but much of the time I find myself applying a hammer to copper to change its shape and a torch to connect it to something else with solder.
Where do you live? How does it feed your art? I live in the Wye Valley at the border with Wales. It is lush with plant life and many of the forms that inspire me come from wild flowers in he hedgerows.
What is your workshop like? Do you work alone?
I have two connecting rooms which I built in the back garden, one is for metal and woodwork, dusty jobs, the other is for making the paper lampshades and photographing. I mostly work alone but sometimes I have the chance to collaborate with friends on different projects it is always exciting to exchange ideas. When I started making lights I was in Germany working for a farmer. I remember cobbling together a makeshift forge from a fan and part of an old stove and softening the copper in the fire in the yard surrounded by deep snow. My workshop now is a bit easier and warmer to work in.
Have you always been a maker?
I joined a small circus in Ireland after college as tent hand and tractor driver. After that I restored my old 50s car and started repairing others from a mobile workshop. Eventually I rented a railway arch in Hackney in which I made hot forged steel furniture, gates and anything that people brought me to weld and repair including petrol tanks from the garage next door.
Where did you train?
Slade School of Art, Hackney College, Wessex Guild of Blacksmiths, Cardiff College of Art.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Nature, plant forms as they change in the seasons, the weather and the different light changes throughout the day and the river as it snakes it's way round the back of our village.
Is there anyone or any style that you’re influenced by?
Antoni Gaudi was a great influence when I was doing blacksmithing, I still admire his use of different materials one setting off the next like the fluidity and froth of the metal balconies on La Casa Mila against the gently undulating stonework.
What piece of machinery or tool could you not live without?
The fly press and bench drill are really useful but I would find it impossible to make anything without a set of hammers.
Besides the products you sell at Radiance is there anything else that you make? Architectural lighting for new build projects and one-off pieces of metal furniture.
What are you working on at the moment?
Some pendant and reading light shades in aluminum, most of the illumination is downwards, the difficult thing is to get them to throw light out sideways as well, enough to glow not enough to dazzle.
What do you do when you’re not working? How do you unwind? My family takes up most of my time when I'm not working especially Ben who is 17 months. Occasionally I get the chance to paddle down the river in a canoe which is a great pleasure.
What do you like least about being a designer/maker? Any occupational hazards? The irony with designer making is that if you manage to come up with something that is popular it means you can survive but you have to keep making the same thing over and over again which can be a little dull. As to hazards, if I'm a bit tired I try to avoid knocking myself out with the fly press weights.
What do you like the most about being a designer/maker? Being able to magically transform materials from their straight, flat, square form into something completely different which speaks of the natural world.
Who else’s work do you love? Any artists/makers/friends/galleries/websites you’d like to share. Nick Grant runs Elemental Solutions sustainable water management consultants, we also collaborate on new build lighting projects. Margaret O' Rourke wonderful sculptural porcelain lights. Galanthus Gallery, very interesting exhibitions and great coffee. Wobage Pottery and Courses just round the corner from here marvelous pots, lovely people and interesting courses.
Buy Colins lights here.
Where do you live? How does it feed your art? I live in the Wye Valley at the border with Wales. It is lush with plant life and many of the forms that inspire me come from wild flowers in he hedgerows.
What is your workshop like? Do you work alone?
I have two connecting rooms which I built in the back garden, one is for metal and woodwork, dusty jobs, the other is for making the paper lampshades and photographing. I mostly work alone but sometimes I have the chance to collaborate with friends on different projects it is always exciting to exchange ideas. When I started making lights I was in Germany working for a farmer. I remember cobbling together a makeshift forge from a fan and part of an old stove and softening the copper in the fire in the yard surrounded by deep snow. My workshop now is a bit easier and warmer to work in.
Have you always been a maker?
I joined a small circus in Ireland after college as tent hand and tractor driver. After that I restored my old 50s car and started repairing others from a mobile workshop. Eventually I rented a railway arch in Hackney in which I made hot forged steel furniture, gates and anything that people brought me to weld and repair including petrol tanks from the garage next door.
Where did you train?
Slade School of Art, Hackney College, Wessex Guild of Blacksmiths, Cardiff College of Art.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Nature, plant forms as they change in the seasons, the weather and the different light changes throughout the day and the river as it snakes it's way round the back of our village.
Is there anyone or any style that you’re influenced by?
Antoni Gaudi was a great influence when I was doing blacksmithing, I still admire his use of different materials one setting off the next like the fluidity and froth of the metal balconies on La Casa Mila against the gently undulating stonework.
What piece of machinery or tool could you not live without?
The fly press and bench drill are really useful but I would find it impossible to make anything without a set of hammers.
Besides the products you sell at Radiance is there anything else that you make? Architectural lighting for new build projects and one-off pieces of metal furniture.
What are you working on at the moment?
Some pendant and reading light shades in aluminum, most of the illumination is downwards, the difficult thing is to get them to throw light out sideways as well, enough to glow not enough to dazzle.
What do you do when you’re not working? How do you unwind? My family takes up most of my time when I'm not working especially Ben who is 17 months. Occasionally I get the chance to paddle down the river in a canoe which is a great pleasure.
What do you like least about being a designer/maker? Any occupational hazards? The irony with designer making is that if you manage to come up with something that is popular it means you can survive but you have to keep making the same thing over and over again which can be a little dull. As to hazards, if I'm a bit tired I try to avoid knocking myself out with the fly press weights.
What do you like the most about being a designer/maker? Being able to magically transform materials from their straight, flat, square form into something completely different which speaks of the natural world.
Who else’s work do you love? Any artists/makers/friends/galleries/websites you’d like to share. Nick Grant runs Elemental Solutions sustainable water management consultants, we also collaborate on new build lighting projects. Margaret O' Rourke wonderful sculptural porcelain lights. Galanthus Gallery, very interesting exhibitions and great coffee. Wobage Pottery and Courses just round the corner from here marvelous pots, lovely people and interesting courses.
Buy Colins lights here.
1 comment:
"ooh yes our Colin has lived with us for three years now and we love him dearly. He's much more than just a lamp, he's a member of our family and is as beautiful now as the day he moved in...........! x"
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