What makes us fall in love with a particular piece or style of hand work? Do we have an almost instinctive connection to a type of material or a style of making?

Put a group of people in a room “doing” something and the emotional barriers start to fall. It’s as though the sheer act of focussing on a task with the hands allows people to be more open and vulnerable.

We live in a culture that largely demeans hand work when compared with academic work. I believe that by making this division we do a disservice to both craftsmanship and academic learning.

I believe that making things with our hands is absolutely fundamental to being human. It enables us to look outward and learn about the world around us as well as looking inward to understand ourselves.