Stone

I suppose it's because I worked briefly as a stone-cutter, that I like to have bits of old stone carving around me. I first studied stone-cutting under Hilary Stratton, who worked with Eric Gill.

For a while I worked 'commercially' stone-cutting for my friend FB in France. He installed stone windows, doorways, fireplaces etc; mostly in medieval styles. We had to fetch the stone, cut it, and install it. It was back-breaking work, which is why I didn't continue for too long. Our methods were quite primitive too; he didn't believe in machinery.

I began colleting bits and pieces of old cut stone about 50 years ago. I have bits all over the place, both here and in France.

I'll let you into a secret. If you find a small ancient walled cemetery out in the French countryside, rather than walking around the cemetery itself, walk around the OUTSIDE of the wall. The French like many other  nationalities, believe in the notion of 'Out of sight, out of mind', and they throw all their unwanted funereal rubbish over the wall. This makes for wonderful scavenging. You would be amazed at what you'll find.

One such find was this Corinthian capital that I later made into the lamp you see. The smaller pinnacle beside it is a souvenir of the Great 1987 storm, here in Brighton. Bits of old monuments were broken off by falling branches, this was one small bit.

When I look at bits of old carved stone, it always makes me think of the people who carved them. Even that capital probably took quite a few hours to cut, whilst constantly checking measurements, checking pattern, and making sure it will fit perfectly into its place. Not as easy as it looks. Then someone throws it over a wall, like rubbish.

Charming!