The Emotional DNA of Objects

There is a point in making where something shifts. Not in the hands, exactly - but in the feeling. A piece stops being shaped and starts being recognised.

Objects are not designed in a fixed way in my work. There is no sketch, no correct proportion, no ideal expression I am aiming for. Instead, each piece arrives through a kind of noticing - a quiet agreement between the material and myself.

A tilt becomes a posture, small marks suggest a face, and something begins to emerge. Not alive in a literal sense, but not not alive either.

I think of objects as holding an emotional DNA.

Not emotions in a fixed or defined way, but something softer and familiar - like an object you've had for years that has quietly become part of your life.

Lumo (from the Founding Five) watching the rain with me ♥️

I discover pieces rather than construct them. I don't intentionally give them personalities, but they seem to gather one anyway. Some feel companionable, calm and patient, with an occasional awkwardness that feels familiar. Their humour isn't obvious or performative - it appears in a slight lean, an unexpected proportion, or a gentle kind of oddness. There is often a sense that they are quietly observing, with just a hint of side-eye.

That humour feels important. It softens the work and keeps it light.

There is a moment when I realise I can't take a piece any further without losing something essential. I stop there - not because it is finished in a polished sense, but because it has become itself.

That moment matters more to me than refinement. It's where the emotional DNA settles into place.

I'm not claiming that objects are alive, but I do believe they can hold presence.

Whether they become companions, devoted vessels, or simply objects we choose to keep close, they can carry meaning far beyond their physical form.

And from there, they begin to take their place in the world.

Quietly sharing our shelves, our homes and our daily routines.

Holding traces of memory, attachment and human experience within the quiet rituals of everyday life.

Lumo (from the Founding Five) listening to gossip!