DIY

Early March 2020. I could see the Covid pandemic overwhelming hospitals and cemeteries, decimating towns and cities in Italy – news from China was harder to discern – taking hold in Spain where I had just returned from, and forcing governments to implement lockdowns and quarantines. I imagined…

A cold overcast Thursday in March, it’s 1914. After a lazy lunch with Eva at la Rotonde I pick-up an old broken wine crate abandoned outside the cafe and carry it to my studio. The one on the boulevard Raspail. With a hammer I break the crate down and save a thin but broad strip from the bottom…

In the pile of stones I installed some kitchen counter tops…

I bough a cheap classic 'Andalusian' wooden chair. They're super-popular all over Spain. Unfortunately the straight legs and back made the chair very uncomfortable, almost…

I assembled a vase for my daughter and her family for Christmas. It's made from a glass light bulb diffuser and cardboard from home delivery packaging. The bulb in my…

I'm slowly learning to live with less and experimenting with how to consume fewer resources. As part of these processes I'm making some of the things I might need or want. I recently made a bench.

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I wrote a text Socialised Afffection about my grandmothers love of woodgraining for Specialism, a new publication from Open Editions.

Here is a short extract....

I remember the parlour. We…

So, I'm slowly learning to live with less, and experimenting with how to consume fewer resources. As part of these processes I'm making some of the things I might need or want, not in any dogmatic 'alt-right preppers' kind of way - I'm not about to be refining ore and forging weapons.…

First prototype of a possible chair. It's inspired by Enzo Mari's ideas of being able to make domestic necessities, using stock timber, simple hand tools and everyday skills. There's an echo of Utility furniture from…

I designed - this is where I encountered 'tesselation' - sourced and during the summer learnt to lay a floor of handmade terracotta tiles for an almacen in Riocaliente, Asturias.

The…