"I have lived in many places but always navigate back to Eastbourne, having been born and raised locally in Old Town which to me has a particular soul, unique personality and normality about it and besides I have my amazing family and friends around me. I had an amazing closeness and friendship with my wonderful late mother Joan, who to be fair was as much like a ‘box of frogs’ as I am, so we both came up with the idea of bringing history and memories back to life in the form of RhubarbChairs. 

Since 2013 I have been creating unique one-off pieces of functional furniture art that reside in numerous homes throughout the world, I am very fortunate and proud that many of my creations are showcased in exclusive galleries around the world as well. I have always taken things apart to see how they work or creating something else out of the form. I have an insatiable appetite to know how things work and how they can be recreated or reborn. 

My motivation is led by seeing the excitement on every client's face when I present the completed pieces to them. Every piece has to have the correct surrealistic form, the chairs have to look like someone is still wearing them, maybe sometimes the clients have had the uniform in the back of their wardrobes for many years gathering dust so people can and do put on a little weight, I try and recreate the pieces with that surrealism still present. 

Every piece I create is unique and authentic, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I will only accept commissions from clients that have the same enthusiasm and passion for what I am doing, I want them to enjoy the ownership of the creation as much as I’ve enjoyed the process of creation. I like to lead and others follow.

I love the process of upcycling ordinary everyday objects that most people just throw away and buy new, we need to think outside the box and re-use and recreate. This world we live in has become such a throw-away society and it can very easily be changed by just pausing and thinking of a second purpose for the object. Several of my clients have suffered quite bad Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after their service in the armed forces and by me creating a piece of furniture art for them out of their uniforms actually helped them come to terms with the horrendous experiences that they had endured in the forces, and now their uniforms take pride of place in their homes, whereas before they were secretly hidden away.

St Wilfrid’s Hospice is such a wonderful cause which is personally very close to my heart in more ways than one and I will continue to help the charity in any way I can. For every piece that I receive a commission for via this interview, I will happily make a 10% donation to the hospice."