Art, Design, Architecture, Mathematics, Physics, Music, Apparel Re-architecting
I have a disparate skill set from my work and educational experience combining creative skills from art and architecture with theoretical physics and software engineering, many have labelled me a poly-math. Whilst many see this as a great ability it’s not without its own challenges. Mainly focusing. Being able acquire new skills so easily and excel in many areas sounds great, but an individual can’t do everything!
I’ve studied Interior & Architectural design and even won an award for a Royal Society of Arts competition back in 2003/4.
I’ve worked on some very prestigious projects as a designer/architectural assistant such as the tricentennial redevelopment of Fortnum & Mason, One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge and many more.
In addition my ability to learn complex tools meant I was able to learn and master advanced 3 dimensional modelling software to produce designs and visualise schemes. This started a journey to rediscover my love of Maths & Physics…
Design & Architecture weren’t enough…
I needed to expand my perspective and reconnect with my natural ability and fascination with Maths & Science. After studying for A-levels whilst working in design, I enrolled at UCL to study Theoretical Physics in 2010.
Next came a career as a Software Engineer, allowing me to learn skills that would allow me start experimenting with combining my interests.
Attempt No. 1
A clothing design concept I’d developed, inspired by architecture - an attempt to start re-architecting garment patterns to create a material barrier to encapsulate & better express the human form, whilst contrasting & complementing it’s curves with geodesic structures - entitled Biodesic.
Redesigning clothing patterns to fit the human body is challenging. Despite modelling the designs in 3D, getting the fit right was hit & miss. There’s a reason clothing patterns remain almost unaltered for years!
The solution - designing & engineering software to allow visualising & fine tuning the measurements.
Fashion… Not the right passion
Whilst designing the garments were great and applying Maths, Physics & coding to make it work, something wasn’t driving me to explore this more fully.
Cue music
Music is a huge passion, an art form in its own right and a means of expression both in itself but also when it moves us to express the feeling it creates via dance. Both are incredibly important to me.
Whilst studying Physics, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to create music, writing lyrics and record songs as a vocalist in collaboration with the artist/composer known as Area Grey, with the generous support from one half of the Grammy award winning electronic duo, Basement Jaxx.
A hunger for a challenge
There are few disciplines which grant the level of freedom for exploration, self direction and afford the time to observe, contemplate the world around us and form a dialogue like that of an artist.
I yearn for opportunities to explore the connections between the various fields I’ve studied and worked in. This affords me the chance to challenge myself, push boundaries and break down misconceptions. For example - when telling my old tutor from my interior & Architectural design degree that I intended to study Physics, they criticised this as a wise choice for a creative individual. I would argue the level of creativity required to derive General Relativity is equal to any artistic movement that has shaped so much about society. Seeing space & time as dimensions which are intertwined and related in a way no one had ever conceived before giving rise to a new perspective, solving the shortcomings of Newtonian Physics is incredibly creative.
My aim as an artist is to make people question their own assumptions about what creativity is.
Maths & Physics are both a source of inspiration and a means to communicate ideas.
Instead relying on traditional mediums, computer code becomes a means to realise, visualise & simulate my art.
Synaesthesis started off as a test to see if I could create a piece of software to visualise objects in 3D in perspective and became the basis for tying together my passions whilst providing me with an incredibly ambitious challenge - work it all out from scratch.
This frees me from the dictates of another software framework and means whatever I can imagine can be realised. The only restraints are my skills and vision