Bio

As a designer, innovator, engineer and artist, I take every day products and find a better way to make them work.

I found inspiration in Art, Design and Engineering when stuying at Cleveland College of Art and Design. My grandfather was a brilliant artist who painted the Queen Mother in 1968 and my father was a Lighting Cameraman for the BBC. Art and Design became a sanctuary for me. I have always been a fan of objects that worked well and looked beautiful and relished seeing the works of people like Raymond Lowey, Dieter Rams, Salvador Dali and George Stephenson the inventor of the steam train. I went to study for a B.A (Eng), M.A (Eng). I wanted to work with the best, to see where I stood and to see if I was any good. I could draw well but could I design and engineer? My career began with Fitch London as a junior product designer developing the early cordless telephones for B.T.

I was born in County Durham and I took to Art,  Design and Engineering as teenager. I soon discovered that it was important to know how things work to enable my artistic aspirations. After designing for the past 25 years in New York, London and New Zealand, I hope I have left my mark on the world of design and made people’s lives a little better. In late 1980 I met Michael Cousins, which led me to designing in New York City developing perfume bottles for Estee Lauder. I am a Northern Briton and missed my homeland, returning during the early 1990s. I married Emma and had three girls. It was important for me to be there for them, so I started my own business and worked from home. Developing products and innovating for Black and Decker, Flymo, Ideal Standard and many locally based big brand names. 

I also work with SME businesses specialising in innovation, driving costs down and market share up. Being well connected with the North East business and investment network has enabled many clients to benefit by signposting to appropriate sources of funding or expertise. Design Development and Manufacturing experience in a breadth of markets such as White and Brown consumer goods, Telecommunications, Toy and Gift, Furniture, Lighting, Marine, Green Energy, Garden and Outdoor, Emergency Services and Luxury Goods. Experience of most forms of manufacturing process including Rapid Prototyping and 3D CAD.