Since 2001 I have been making an ongoing series of sculptures to be worn as jewellery from found objects, exploring relationships between individual memory and collective mythology. 

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I have been collecting discarded objects gathered from constantly changing urban landscapes throughout my life and started making them into jewellery during a time of emotional crisis working as a filing assistant in a prison in my early 20s. Evolving from a respectful critique of upcycling culture, which posits an increase in the inherent value of recycled objects through commodity production; my focus is on deliberately retaining dirt and grime in found pieces, amplifying notions of romantic fantasy within the mundane detritus of contemporary reality. 

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My own authorship is evidenced through an idiosyncratic use of materials and improvisations with often quite limited found resources. Evoking nostalgia through deliberately referencing folk art and psychedelia, I grow very attached to the pieces I work on. Developing this honest connection invites deep contemplation of the fragility of memory. 

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Some pieces evolve over years, others change very little from how the entities looked when I found them (ready-mades). I produce around 50 pieces every year, however the pleasure of selling anything at a flea market has always been followed by a genuine period of grief. Following a painful arthritis flare-up in 2022 I was commissioned to make a “space helmet” by psychedelic musician Bethany Ley of the jazz band Stanlæ, encouraging me to make posts about my work and develop Gutter Bling into a residency project, which I ran in The Vestibules at Bristol City Hall in September 2023. 

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In 2025 this residency evolved into Wax Wish Worry Babies, which deepened the interaction between artist, participant and patron by creating works from a Tithe Box placed at a bar in the exhibition/ workspace. The resulting items give the recipients a genuine feeling of empathetic closure, opening up questions of authenticity, authorship and symbolism. Some have described this residency as a deep clowning event. 

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At workshops I invite people to bring found objects that can be made into Gutter Bling. These residencies and workshops open up dialectical methods of making pieces that can be documented then given to the collaborator, allowing me to “let go”; a direct confrontation of my hoarding tendency.