I’m convinced that my desire to create is in some large part influenced by seeing my dad make stuff by hand when we were children. Well, that and being encouraged to explore hands on pursuits ourselves too – for a lot of my childhood that was sewing, sometimes from kits which were often a little hard to do without lots of help from my mum, and sometimes just making stuff up inspired by something I might have seen.
My favourite school was the one we attended in Brixham where days were spent doing woodwork, crochet, dancing and projects. (No times tables or spelling for us!)
Encouraged by Dad, we also played music together as young children (not quite the von Trapps!) – and the house was full of music too – Ike and Tina Turner’s ‘River deep mountain high’, Rod Stewart’s early albums with his then band/ ‘Puff the magic dragon’ (interesting lyrics!) amongst others.
At one point, when we’d moved back to Bath, Dad made a darkroom in the basement of that house for developing black and white photos which we both enjoyed using – a pursuit I continued when I went to do my degree as they had a darkroom in the department.
I didn't like reading myself much as a child, but I loved being read to and mum often read to us when we were younger, and from that my imagination could run riot. To this day listening to audible books and podcasts when I’m in the studio is still one of my favourite ways to ‘read’.
