I AM A LETTER CARVER, LETTER DESIGNER AND CALLIGRAPHER WORKING FROM MY STUDIO IN THE DOVEY VALLEY, NEAR MACHYNLLETH IN WALES. I CARVE MEMORIALS, PLAQUES, HOUSE SIGNS, GARDEN FEATURES AND CELEBRATORY PIECES TO COMMISSION, AS WELL AS PERSONAL INSCRIPTIONS, STANDING STONES AND SCULPTURAL CREATIONS FOR EXHIBITION. MATERIALS ARE USUALLY BRITISH LIMESTONE, SANDSTONE OR SLATE AND ALL WORK IS DONE BY HAND.

To create something beautiful and meaningful, to do it with care and attention to detail and with the best materials available, is what inspires me. A key part of this process is to work sensitively with the client’s concepts and ideas to develop a mutually satisfying design and final carved artefact.

The basis of creating unique inscriptions in stone lies in the design and drawing of the letters by hand. Characteristics such as strength, joy, playfulness, elegance - whatever the brief might demand - can be reflected in the design. This provides both endless challenges and great enjoyment. As well, a tactile approach is important to me, letting the feel and texture of the letters combine with the stone's surface to bring out their aesthetic and expressive qualities. This is helped by my masonry experience, which gives me the skill and an added versatility to shape stone and work three dimensionally.

My lettering background is in calligraphy. A first class degree in Calligraphy from Roehampton Institute (1997) gave me a broad understanding of lettering, from historical letter forms to modern experimental lettering. Working extensively with an edged pen helped develop my eye and understanding for letter forms. After graduation I apprenticed in letter cutting with letter designer Tom Perkins, and subsequently took a two-year HND course in Applied Architectural Stonework at Weymouth College. After working with practitioners in both the UK and Germany, I set up my own practice in 2005.

I am also an elected member of LetterExchange and a Fellow of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators (SSI) in London.Contemporary headstones