1. What do you teach at the CAE?
I teach beginner jewellery classes and sometimes jewellery classes where we use fun materials like acrylic, remnants from industry, or other plastic materials.
  1. What do you like most about teaching at the CAE?
I love meeting people from all walks of life. Seeing someone ‘click’ when they master a process or realise they have the potential to create a tangible jewel of their own design.
  1. Why do you think the CAE is such an important part of the Melbourne community?
Because it offers an entry point to trying new things. That old adage about life-long learning is a shoe that fits CAE. It also brings people together who have similar interests and that’s always a win-win.
  1. Metal, Water, Fire, Earth or Wood, which of the five Chinese zodiac elements do you prefer to work with and why?
For balance I need to work with them all and I don’t preference one over another as each offers its own unique characteristics, approach and thinking. Thankfully I do get to work with them all albeit in a variety of fashions. However I do love metal. Metal demands persistence to master, is challenging (it requires mettle!) and is ever rewarding.
  1. If you were trapped on a desert island, how would you use your craftiness to survive?
Hopefully some of the craft skills I’ve accumulated (with respect to materials, tools, design etc) might come in useful. I ‘think’ through craft, and I’d like to believe that this way of thinking would help me survive. By this I mean I’d tap into the uncertainty craft thinking opens up in order to question my decisions in the hope I could find a perspective, approach and methodology that might lead to me being able to problem solve my way off that island. I would like to think my ‘Wilson’ (from the movie Cast Away, 2000) might be a step on from the one Tom Hanks crafted….
  1. Recycle or Upcycle?
Both
  1. What super power would you choose if you could choose one?
The power to create peace and goodwill.
  1. If you could ‘craft’ your ideal partner, what characteristics would they have?
Kindness, humour, empathy, honesty, trustworthiness, generosity and a sense of fun.
  1. The best coffee in Melbourne can be found at…?
Journal on Flinders lane…but then I’m biased as Johnny works there and I love seeing him as he reminds me of when I had a studio in the city.

Craft courses available at CAE