Where the Tide Turns
Here you’ll find reflections on the ebb and flow of my practice — a collection of short posts, unseen footage, and images offering a glimpse into the environment, inspiration, and motivation that draws me back to the flame.
The 2026 House & Garden Craft Prize finalists transform identity, memory and material into works destined to endure
Chosen from over 500 submission, these 16 pieces offer a snapshot of the country's thriving contemporary craft landscape.
Discover the objects at Sotheby's during London Craft Week
I am delighted to have been Shortlisted for the House & Garden Craft Prize 2026.
Championing excellence and innovation in material-led practice, the House & Garden Craft Prize reaffirms that contemporary craft is central to how culture is shaped, sustained and understood. The Prize recognises UK-based makers who are reimagining inherited traditions and techniques through experimentation, research and cross-disciplinary exchange to create work that is personal, globally resonant and socially significant.
Selected from over 500 submissions, and representing varied media – from clay and textile, to wood, metal and salvaged glass – the 16 works, shown below, expand what craft can be and whom it can speak to. Selected by the Prize's steering committee comprised of Magnus von Wistinghausen, executive director, World Monuments Fund Britain, Natalie Melton, executive director, Crafts Council and the House & Garden editorial team, these objects hold meaning, invite dialogue and will endure beyond our time.
Discover the works at the 2026 House & Garden Craft Prize Finalist's Exhibition taking place during London Craft Week (11-17 May) at Sotheby's New Bond Street flagship. A part of the auction house's Crafted programme, the showcase is open to the public.
The winner and special mentions, select by jury members Julia Fischel, director, Sotheby’s London, Keith Brymer Jones, master potter and judge on the Channel 4 TV show The Great Pottery Throw Down, TF Chan, fair director, Collect Art Fair, and jury chair, Talib Choudhry, editor, House & Garden, will be announced on 11th May.
The 2026 House & Garden Craft Prize is supported by Mulberry, with strategic partners Sotheby's and Crafts Council.
The finalists’ exhibition will be on view for public display at Sotheby’s Mayfair from 11–17 May during London Craft Week.
Manifesting a Museum Collection and Journeying through Impossible Delicacy
In 2024 I was selected to participate in Collect Open at Somerset House in London, as part of a larger international fair for contemporary craft and design presented by the Crafts Council of England. It showcases ambitious, conceptual installations and artworks created by individual artists or collectives, giving them a unique opportunity to exhibit alongside prestigious galleries. It is designed to encourage artists to push creative boundaries and offers emerging and established makers a chance to be to be discovered by collectors, curators, and journalists. My reason for participating came from a desire to expand my practice beyond a regional focus and showcase what I call the ‘impossible delicacy’ of my work. My goal was to make a cohesive collection of museum-quality work, with which I could court museum curators.
It proved to be a challenging undertaking for me, requiring an intense, eight month effort in my rural north Antrim studio through dark winter months, to create an entirely new body of work. This work centred on adapting and reworking found scientific lab ware, creating sculptural pieces of a scale and complexity beyond anything that I had attempted before. It culminated in transporting everything in a gut-wrenching twenty-five hour journey via van and ferry, across the Irish Sea and into the maw of the big smoke. Despite every bump and pot hole encountered in the two hundred and sixty three miles of motorway between Ballintoy and London, the delicate fruits of my labour miraculously survived intact.
Glass petals lined up in front of a dried hydrangea
Making the petals of the glass hydrangea at the bench torch
An army of glass hydrangea petals bridged and ready for assembly
A dried hydrangea backlit by low winter sun in the studio
A view of my bench during hydrangea petal construction
Glass hydrangea head assembled and against December sky
Contemplating proportions of Fair Maid’s Demise
Our studio sign in February snow
We the Drowned in the studio window against the back drop of the January landscape
Glass petals lined up in front of a dried Hydrangea
Making the petals of the glass Hydrangea at the bench torch
An army glass hydrangea petals bridged and ready for assembly
Dried Hydrangea backlit by sunlight in the studio
A view of my bench - Hydrangea petal construction
Glass hydrangea head against winter sky
Constructing Fair Maid’s Demise
Studio sign in the snow
We the Drowned in the studio window against the back drop of the January landscape
Throughout the five days of the fair I was rooted to my spot in Somerset House, where I experienced keen interest in my work, received positive feedback, met many interesting people, and made many new connections —but I did not have any sales. And, rightly or wrongly, at the time sales were my measure of success. So I returned home somewhat disappointed and, on the whole, feeling a little sore and depleted
Two years later, I can now say that the adventure of participating in Collect Open was a rich and valuable one. The lesson that I eventually took away from it was that there is some truth in the dreadful cliche ‘good exposure’ that is forever dangled before artists. In retrospect, I can see a clear chain of events that started with my QEST bursary in 2023 and led two years later to my first museum acquisition and my first museum show.
Sunrise walk in the snow for mental health
We the Drowned suspended in it’s crate ready for transport
Fair Maid’s Demise packed for transport
We the Drowned at sunset in Somerset House
Work in progress for the Mimesis against the blue sky outside the studio
Snow covered studio in hazy winter light
Sunrise walk in the snow for mental health
We the Drowned suspended in it’s crate ready for transport
Fair Maid’s Demise packed for transport
We the Drowned at sunset in Somerset House
Work in progress for the Minesis against the blue sky outside the studio
Snow covered studio in hazy winter light
It’s never a straight line and will always involve the intangibles of luck and timing. But I’m very proud to say that my work is now featured in the collection of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and will be on view in their exhibition of Mimesis: The Natural World in Glass, on view November 29, 2025 - Feb 15, 2026. I will be visiting Fort Wayne Museum of Art and giving an artist’s talk in the gallery on February 12, 2026.
Work in progress, Stranded
Stranded, newly acquired Fort Wayne Museum of Art Collection
Flotsam and Jetsam, newly acquired Fort Wayne Museum of Art Collection
Work in progress Stranded
Stranded newly acquired Fort Wayne Museum of Art Collection
Flotsam and Jetsam newly acquired Fort Wayne Museum of Art Collection