In a former life I was a teacher and when faced with redundancy in the middle of 2016, I embarked on a second career as a designer/maker. For me, this was an opportune moment to start living the life I’ve always wanted and I have since started carving out a niche for myself, exploring what I want to make and how to make ends meet doing it.

I moved back to the Isle of Wight in 2010. It was a move informed partly by practicality as I was 33 and the novelty of flat sharing was well-worn out but a little bit of nostalgic curiosity also drew me back here. Living on an island is a strange thing. I’ve had a push me, pull me relationship with the Isle of Wight ever since I can remember and it’s only now, exploring this connection through creative practice that I can comfortably investigate the personal through the objective rituals of making.

In order to sustain the creative bit, I teach children and adults in gallery settings, assist a potter and work as an external evaluation assistant for a national organisation promoting free access to art and design education. I am lucky that all the separate elements of my employment work holistically and that above all, I really enjoy doing them.