about:

me

Born in Switzerland in 1955, I emigrated to Perth, Western Australia, in 1990 with my wife, Barbara. With teaching experience both in Switzerland (Realschule) and in Materials Design & Technology at several private Secondary schools in Perth, I bring a meticulous and thoughtful approach to creative woodwork, furniture design, and joinery.

Since arriving in Perth, I have designed and crafted numerous pieces of furniture for our family home. I strive for the highest quality in every aspect - both visible and hidden - creating unique pieces intended to last for generations. A well-designed and well-crafted piece radiates the care invested in it. The wood itself - its grain, direction, and natural colour variations - imbues each work with its own character. Equally important is a sensitivity to the environment the piece is destined for, allowing complementary features to be woven into the design. I believe that beauty is often born of simplicity: a piece is complete when nothing more can be removed.

Between 1995 and 2003, I combined my refined craftsmanship with artistic intuition to create bespoke picture frames on commission, extending and incorporating the artist’s own style, motifs, and visual language into each custom frame.

During this period, I also became fascinated by the Bowen Technique, an Australian remedial therapy that encourages the body’s natural ability to heal. My interest grew to the point that I trained as an instructor, and in 2004 I began introducing Bowen to Switzerland. From 2004 to 2010, Bowen teaching became my primary focus.

In 2010, I returned to full-time teaching in Design & Technology, a role I continued until my retirement in April 2022.

A pivotal moment occurred in May 2010 during a Bowen trip to Switzerland. Encouraged by my friend Paul Steiner - a surveyor and chainsaw sculptor - I tried my hand at creative chainsaw carving. This marked the beginning of my most inspired creative phase. Wood, the material that had shaped much of my professional life, became my artistic medium.

I sculpt and, during my teaching years, introduced talented students to the idea of “turning wood into art.” For me, art is fundamentally about life, and visual art - whether landscape, figurative, or abstract - reflects that. Wood art adds another dimension: it is made from something that once lived. Trees stand silent witness to decades - sometimes centuries - of history. They shelter, they provide, and they record. Hidden within their rings and fibres are stories waiting to be revealed. In sculpting wood, the artist joins the tree in a final dance, guiding it into a new form while honouring its past. Traces of its previous life often remain visible, adding depth and meaning to the new creation.

I see my work as a collaboration with a greater artist: Mother Nature. I strive to blend the inherent beauty of the timber with my own artistic voice, paying tribute to the life the tree once lived. In doing so, I aim to tell the tree’s story alongside my own - offering it a second life and continuing the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Since 2023, I have begun exploring a new artistic direction, researching approaches to wall art. Increasing strain in my hands has made the use of power tools, hand tools, and repetitive manual work more challenging. Change is on the horizon for 2025 and beyond.

my sculptures (please check out my website's GALLERY)

• are explorations of form, texture and proportion

• move the boundaries of reality

• are intuitive expressions of distorted surreal beings

• are full of simple beauty or contain a touch of quirkiness

• mostly convey the synthesis between the figurative and the abstract, and the real and imaginary

my inspiration

• sculpting is an amazing outlet for creative and artistic energy; it recharges me and balances me as a person

• natural materials, their honesty and the effects that time and use have on them

• a passion for wood to create a body of work that is environmental in pith and unique

• imaginatively visualising collected materials and structures of nature and redirect their life stories

• working in small series, each expressing an idea or concept

• the challenge of using rough tools self-taught (such as chainsaw, carbatec woodcarver, angle grinder, power file, wire brush) to create delicate artwork with contrasting textures

• finding and taking time to make each piece exact

• recycling and wabi-sabi (the Japanese concept of ‘wisdom and beauty of imperfection’), which go hand in hand and nurture all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect

• sculptors like Paul Steiner, Alberto Giacometti, Peter Adams, Willy Verginer, Fernando Botero, Nikki de Saint Phalle, Antony Gormley

my art (please check out my website's GALLERY) 

• a subconscious manifestation of the things that inspire me

• evolving and based on experiences up to this point

• a visual talking point for the viewer with no boundaries for personal and creative interpretations

• a source of pleasure and enjoyment not only for the creator but also for the viewer and new owner

• aims at creating unforgettable works and imparting a deep emotional connection between objects and human beings whenever I begin a new piece

• allows me to produce a niche art that is not only aesthetically beautiful, but one-of-a-kind (thanks to my creative introspection).

• all pieces are dated and signed

• remember: wood is a living medium. It “works”, expands or shrinks depending on humidity and temperature. For this reason occurring cracks and colour changes are unavoidable natural processes (and therefore no reason for complaints). Avoid locating the sculptures in places that are too dry!

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