My work as a professional craftsperson began in 1991 with a four-year apprenticeship at a forge in Pevensey – and I still make bespoke copperwork to this day, taking private commissions and exhibiting work at shows and galleries.

Coppersmithing is featured in the Red List of Endangered Crafts, and my Churchill Fellowship was inspired by my unusual skillset. Between 2011 and 2012 I travelled to France, Greece and India to meet other metalworkers, and I learned more about traditional coppersmithing techniques, their ancient origins and modern uses of the craft.

In 2019 I represented Great Britain at the first UNESCO International Festival of Handicrafters in Uzbekistan, and here I discovered more global ideas about protecting intangible cultural heritage, particularly craft skills like coppersmithing. In 2025 I completed a PhD in archaeology, researching the unacknowledged contribution of female metalworkers in archaeometallurgy, and was also able to contribute my coppersmithing skills to ongoing experimental research.

I continue to develop and consolidate these strands of practical and academic knowledge in a way that will help coppersmithing to become more widely known and practised. My Churchill Fellowship taught me the value of my practise as a coppersmith, and also the joys of sharing my skills.