Bring me a piece of your landscape.
Commissioned works are built around something you send to the studio — a pressed leaf from a place that matters to you, a handful of sand, a length of bark — set into the copper, glass and ink alongside the rest of the work. The piece becomes a quiet record of two landscapes: yours, and mine.
A four-step pathway, roughly five months.
A commission begins with a letter, not a brief. Tell me about the wall, the room and the light it lives in — but more importantly, tell me about a place that matters to you. A forest where you grew up, the coastline you walked with a parent, the garden of a house you've left behind. The piece is going to remember somewhere, and the conversation starts there.
From that letter we agree on a scale, a palette and an approximate composition. I'll send a short studio note back with a sketch and a quote, and once we've settled on the direction you send me your natural elements — pressed leaves, bark, seed pods, a small jar of sand, a feather, a handful of soil. Anything that won't decay and that the studio can press, set or scatter into the surface. I'll write back with what arrived, what I can use, and what I'd like to ask for instead.
Then the studio takes over. Copper plates go into the oxidising bath; botanicals press flat between muslin and weights; glass is cut and held against the composition. Your elements are placed alongside the studio's own materials — set into the copper with archival adhesive, or held behind hand-cut glass, or scattered as a finishing layer of ink-and-pigment. The piece takes about four to five months from start to sign.
When the work is finished I deliver and install it in person, anywhere in Australia, or hand-pack and ship internationally with full insurance. Whatever didn't make it into the final piece comes home with the work, in a small archival envelope, along with the hand-signed certificate and a letter about how your materials were used.
Order to install, step by step.
- 01 Weeks 1 — 2
The first letter
You write to the studio about the wall, the room, the light, and the place you want the work to remember. We agree on scale, palette and approximate composition. I send back a sketch and a quote.
- 02 Weeks 2 — 4
Your materials arrive
You post (or hand-deliver) the pressed leaves, bark, seed pods, sand or other natural elements you would like in the work. I confirm what arrived and what I will use, and acknowledge the 50% commissioning fee.
- 03 Months 1 — 5
In the studio
Copper is oxidised, glass is cut by hand, your elements are pressed and set into the surface alongside the studio's own materials. Occasional in-progress photographs are shared by email.
- 04 Month 5
Delivery & install
White-glove delivery and on-site placement anywhere in metro Australia, included. International commissions hand-packed and shipped fully insured. Any unused materials are returned in a small archival envelope alongside the hand-signed certificate.
Three kinds of natural element, roughly.
The studio's working palette is copper, hand-cut glass, ink and Australian botanicals. What you send gets folded into that palette — never replacing it. Below is a quick guide; if you have something unusual in mind, just ask.
Pressed botanicals
Leaves, blossoms, ferns, grasses.
Anything you can flatten between two sheets of paper for a fortnight. Eucalypt, gum, banksia, ti-tree, jasmine, fern fronds — all common in the studio already, but yours carries a different weight.
Earth & water
Sand, soil, ash, dried clay.
A small jar of beach sand, garden soil, river silt, ash from a backyard firepit — these become a pigment layer, or a fine scattered finish across the surface. Around 100ml is plenty.
Found objects
Bark, seed pods, feathers, twigs.
Small pieces of bark, dried seed pods, a single feather, a twig from a memorable tree. Anything that won't decay and that fits in a padded envelope is welcome — I'll write back about what I can use.
Three recent conversations.
Tiny Story #1
A wall-sized work for a Brunswick living room, set with pressed jasmine and a length of stringy-bark from the collector's childhood home in Healesville.
Magic of Safety
Commissioned for a family home in Northcote, holding a small jar of soil from a grandfather's farm in regional Victoria.
Hiding in the Forest
A private commission embedded with eucalypt leaves gathered on the buyers' first walk together in the Dandenongs.
Write the first letter.
You don't need to know the answers yet — a few sentences about the place and the wall is enough to start. I'll reply with questions and a sketch.