human connection at the heart of designed spaces & landscapes
…weaving story, space & sensory experience
My creative practice has grown organically over many years, working first in theatre and film-making, latterly in architecture, design and curating. Together with clients, stakeholders, and design teams, I collaborate in creating meaningful and impactful places, spaces, and experiences that help grow community and enhance the quality of life for all.
Connecting to Place
The Backstory…
After ten years as a documentary film-maker at the BBC in London, I retrained in Architectural Conservation and joined architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios as part of their Creative Reuse Team. Embedded within the design team, and starting from the premise that every building and landscape tells a story, I delivered over 50 culture, heritage and landscape projects, some of them illustrated throughout this portfolio. Alongside this work I led an innovative programme of events and engagement for the studio. With a range of collaborators I conceived, designed and delivered festivals, pecha kucha, round tables and a whole range of participatory events around sustainability, public realm, innovative materials, and resilient cities for both public and professional participants.
“One must have the utmost respect for matter.
It is the starting point. It dictates the work. It imposes it.”
Joan Miró
The emotional layer…
Contemporary or ancient, materials define and describe our experience of the world. They also broker the relationship between our bodies and our environment — both built and grown.
As a keen ceramist, and an eternally curious gardener, I am passionate about the value of the material and natural world around us. Making and haptics are essential to my creative practice, using installations, books, film, planting, ceramics and textile interventions.
Culture & Nature
In 2017 I moved to New York as Creative Director at Thinc Design to join the team working with Grimshaw and Eden Project International on the Sustainability Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020. Through fun, intrigue and hard interactive choices, the host pavilion explores humankind’s relationship with nature, our obsession with excessive consumerism, and offers ideas of how we can change our everyday choices to reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact.
With climate emergency and equity ever more pressing, each project in the USA had in common the need to decolonise culture and communicate the urgency of climate action. Communicating the interconnectedness of nature and culture was at the heart of creating a new museum in Milwaukee; and a major element of the Empire State Building Visitor Experience in New York City now tells the story of energy and sustainability within this iconic structure.
“Take time to look…”
Georgia O’Keeffe
In New Mexico I worked with diverse communities of residents, students and artists and museum staff on shaping a more inclusive and sensory experience at a new museum celebrating the life and work of Georgia O’Keeffe. Considered by some as a genius of modernism, by others as a feminist icon, and still others as a settler abusing her white privilege, this work helped deepen my understanding of the complex relationship between culture, nature, and identity – and added to my conviction that the stories we tell are as important as ecology and data in creating healthy buildings, healthy communities, and a healthy planet.
Culture & Climate
Current Work…
Now based in the UK full-time, I live in the UNESCO World Heritage City of Bath. Current and recent projects include the ambitious UN Live Museum for the UN in Copenhagen, developing an entirely new paradigm of a museum to engage local and global communities in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In the UK, I am working with the National Trust to revive an important urban neighbourhood and Grade I Listed Building, creating a kind of ‘third place’ for the city through programming, gathering and participation.
