3. What sort of things inspire you? Where do you look for inspiration?
I’ve always been really fascinated by people and the things that they create. I think that the hardest thing to do is to understand another. There’s a really special sense of knowing a person when you can see what they’ve created. It’s sort of like the old notion of, I wonder if the red I see is the same red you see. I can understand what you are saying, to an extent I can understand what you are feeling but when you create something it’s a synthesis of all of your thoughts, feelings, experiences and hard work. So that can really be anything that people make: paintings, architecture, sculpture, beautiful food presentation, etc. I just try to find any place where people are expressing themselves as purely as possible in what they are creating. That’s the thing that excites me, that’s the thing that makes me want to respond by creating myself.
4. When do you feel the most creative?
I feel the most creative when I’m in my shop. I have big piles of\ raw materials, processed materials, paints, glue, nails, etc. I sometimes feel anxiety about making things or life, but when I’m in my shop, I feel very focused and the rest of the world can be put aside. I love getting into the process of making things. There’s a lot of tedious aspects to what I do, but I love it and embrace it, it has become to me a meditation.
5. What is your creative process like?
I do a little bit of sketching, not as much as I use to. When I’m working out new ideas or color schemes, I like to try them out with making small pieces. I might make 15-20 small things until I feel confident that I know what I want to do on a larger scale. I mostly build all of the pieces in my mind before I even cut a single piece of wood. But while I’m actually making the piece, I do allow myself to take a detour whenever I get a new idea. For me, rules and order allow me to actually be more free and creative and strike out in a different direction.
