Grand Designs 2013

The director of my new glass suppliers liked my most recent splashback so much that he commissioned me to do something on one of the kitchen displays he is exhibiting at the Grand Designs Live Show starting on Saturday 4th May in London. It was really short notice and the learning curve was furiously fast on this as I had to get the two pieces done in a much shorter amount of time than I'm usually happy with , but a challenge is hard to turn down!
I'm quite pleased with them despite the finickety problems which arise from trying to force materials to dry ahead of shedule etc. I inherited the shapes of the glass I was given to work on and worked up a design from there. I can't wait to see my work at the Grand Designs show for the first time! If you are going along my work is on the Southern Counties Glass stand http://www.granddesignslive.com/

                   This is the countertop. The large squares you can see are a reflection from the ceiling!

 Unusual Flower shaped breakfast bar floats above the counter with transparent areas so that you can see the surface beneath.

Abstract Dandylion Splashback

I've been so busy. It's very exciting. I was contact by a lovely lady who had been trawling the internet for months trying to find inspiration for the large splashback in her beloved new kitchen. She initially contacted me thinking a commission would be out of her budget, but happily I came up with a design for her which we were both very excited about.
The finish involved a mix of white gold, palladium leaf, 22 carat gold, silver and various shades of grey all backed up with a minky perlescent.
I contacted a new glass company to template the work, delivery it to my workshop and do the final fitting. The whole process went like a dream and everybody involved is really happy with the results.

Patinated White gold

A detail showing the mink coloured basecoat and the patination on the leaf

I recently had an exciting meeting with a potential new client. Having looked through the work I was taking to show them I realised it was an opportunity to finally create a piece I had in mind for a commission several years ago. I ended up with 2 pieces...the 1st shows white gold chemically patinated and showing the base colour with one only slightly aged square of palladium leaf.

The 2nd piece is based on the growth of a kind of Lichen. I want to play with this again with a more flaky texture which is proud of the surface, but it's a good start and they really liked it at the client meeting.

James Bond Inspired Bedroom!

I've been a busy little bee of late. I recently completed an interior styling commission for a client who wanted their bedroom to have an elegant James Bond chic about it. We worked with the existing features such as the   very large wooden curtain pelmet which I covered in Silk, draped white voile panels behind and created feature lighting along it's length in warm white. The walls are painted in an ultra matt warm taupe. The main feature is the wall behind the bed. The finish for this was created last year during an experimental sample session using a perlescent paint which looks and feels like a soft silky fabric. The client is ecstatic and I am really happy with the results.

Emily Swift-Jones: Sparklewren Boutique Opens

I found this photograph on the internet on the Geishaface blog by a lady who came to the opening - resplendent in her kimono and corset. Which was quite a feet considering how humid it was that day!

http://hairfreax.tumblr.com/post/25986817695/immodesty-blaze-in-birmingham-in-a-sparklewren

 I designed the panels to be removable so that they could be easily transported and used as backdrops or as a screen. Jenni Sparklewren Hampshire has used them as a backdrop for several fabulous photoshoots of her exquisite work and as a bonus I get lovely pictures of my work illuminating hers!

http://www.sparklewren.co.uk/visit-the-boutique

My signature "mon"

these are my "mon" - signature tags which I apply to my larger work. The mon is a symbol used in Japan to represent a household in the same way as the coat of arms was used in europe.  I originally had them made for a guest wc I designed for my client using posished plaster (see the pictures below). I have 3 different designs which I use individually or in combination. I have a classic japanese chrysanthemum, an alchemists symbol which represents gold  and a design in which my namesake the swift flies through stylized waves representing my home by the sea.
Here they are gilded in 22 carat gold. The next process is to pick out the background in matt black.

Details of work in progress

Whilst I am waiting with baited breath to see the pictures taken by the professional photographer I thought I'd share some pics I took to show Jenni of Sparklewren how the panels were progressing.

at this point we decided to make the charcoal a fissure so I began to fill in the top left with textured gold. this also helped to make a more natural shape as I felt the slope was looking too even and unnatural.