My aim is to create beautiful and unusual buildings using natural forms and materials.

I work mainly with wood using traditional carpentry methods in contemporary ways, but I also like to work with other natural materials such as natural stone and earth.

My designs are individually inspired by their location and purpose.

As a carpenter I have worked, travelled and studied throughout Europe, taking notes and photos as I’ve gone.
From England I learnt the beauty of individuality and simplicity, from France how to work with materials as nature gave them, and from Germany a practical and efficent approach to building.

Overall proportions, attention to detail, integrity (the harmony of form, function and materials) and the use of ecologically sound, and hence healthy, building materials.

These are the qualities that I combine in my work.

Nature and Mathematics

I draw much inspiration for my work from natural forms, as I believe that nature is still the basis for what we find beautiful.

Symmetry is important, and the gentle flowing of one form into another.

My background in mathematics also has a big influence on my work and I often use mathematical formula to describe patterns similar to what we see around us everyday, such as the regular division of the branches of a tree, or the spiral patterns in a sunflower.

The roof of the sauna, rising over the doorway is a good example of my approach. I wanted this to look as if some giant’s hand had reached down and pulled back the eaves, or like the way a mushroom can grow around an obstacle. Most people don’t notice how the shingles, at first so closely bunched together, spread out, slowly upwards and outwards in both directions.

Temples and Hobit Holes

I am influences by modern and traditional architecture wherever I travel, taking notes and photos to inspire new ideas.

I am particuarly inspired by Japanese wooden architecture. What can at first seem mind bogglingly complex to the European carpenter’s eye, often turns out to reveal an ingenious and deep understanding of wood and it’s many properties.

Finally I love to add an element of the magical or the fantastical. A comical note like the illustrations in childrens books of wondereous castles and hobit holes. And I like to give an unexpected suprise, to raise a subtle smile, or just poke a little fun at the ordinariness of our built enviroment.