Hi. I'm D.

I've been captivated by (and maybe a little obsessed with) flora since I was a little kid running around in our family garden. The colour, the amazing detail, the diversity, the texture, the infectious cheerfulness, the ability to grow in between cracks in the concrete...what's not to love?

I think it's remarkable that flowers can be so complex yet evoke such uncomplicated delight. I guess this duality is what I'm trying to convey in my work, inviting a closer inspection of the detail. Connecting with Nature's things and looking after them is important to me.

After thinking I wanted to be a florist for a while, I eventually studied design, and now feel comfortable calling myself an artist, a designer and a jeweller. I'm easily distracted by experimenting with different materials and learning new skills, but I'm never too far away from pencil and paper or needle and thread.

While I appreciate the speed and convenience of computer-aided design, I believe it's vital to preserve traditional techniques and hand skills, so these will always feature in my work in some way. Handmade is simply lovelier. Without the human element, everything starts to look the same, and that's just boring.

As a child of the 70's and the daughter of Europeans, my work is influenced by 1950's - 1970's design, traditional European dress (especially the ridiculously labour-intensive embroidery) and folk or naive art. I also admire the simple, considered, timeless forms of Scandinavian design.

I love the whole process of designing and making...from initial scribbles, through the trial and error of sampling, material and colour selection, the tactile delights of hand making, all the way through to the photography. All my artwork is produced in my home studio in Newcastle.

Thanks for visiting!