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Design, getting form and function to fuse in a palatable way, overarches everything we create.


Logo design is an intriguing part of the 'art for print' spectrum...stripping a complex business operation down to a distinctive cypher. It's good therapy for someone like me who usually has several ideas simultaneously competing for centre stage. It's the most minimalist area I've dealt with whereas The Smith Family Home, a commission that enveloped me thirty-five years ago - through necessity - is the most complex, (note the lack of past tense! ).


Over the years I've applied my - slightly bloodshot - design eye to a wide range of projects: books and posters, furniture, buildings, clothing, theatrical costumes and sets, expos, campaigns an atmospheres - you name it. But the most taxing assignment, one where I continually tinker with the practicality/ aesthetics mix is - my lifestyle.

Concept Sketches
for 'Detente' and ' Diver'

Concept Sketches for 'Detente' and ' Diver'

Concept sketches often contain
an inspired spontaneity and energy.

These sketches were used as the basis for bronze sculptures and maybe
(up the trail a bit) a painting.
Year2014

Web Logo for Globetrotters

Web Logo for Globetrotters

Don't panic! This European couple
wanted the American spelling  of 'Travelling".
Year2021
Blue Kelp Bridge

Blue Kelp Bridge

A little humpy-back bridge to span a drainage ditch
turned into a full blown fantasia.

The metalwork was designed so the cut out
negative pieces became positive pieces - no waste!
Year2015
Chook Mural

Chook Mural

A mural for the side of a chicken hutch
(on the road to our local surf beach) is what
the client wanted to offset an obligation.

...And I thought the 'Dehydrated Worms' label
for De Larno the magician was the pinnacle of 
my career.
Year2018
Bi-directional Bio Morph

Bi-directional Bio Morph

I worked at giving the sad progression shown here
a positive direction also - in that if you read it from rt to left
the farmer removes his cattle from the water and plants
willows and natives.
Year2018
Cheviot Museum mural design

Cheviot Museum mural design

My rationale to the committee when I presented this
was that the mural should be like a movie poster
with tantalising tastes of great local yarns.
It went ahead, pretty much like this!
Year2017
Residence

Residence

A drinking-straw and cardboard model
with which to figure out a sympathetic extension
(upper left) which was successfully built.
Year2016
Ready Money Robinson

Ready Money Robinson

A graphic to be enlarged as an ingredient
in the Cheviot Museum mural.

Our founding father and the barrow of $
with which he supposedly purchased the land
for the mighty Cheviot Hills Estate.
Year2017
Garden Gate

Garden Gate

Oregon and Cheviot Hills oak. Constructed by Rob Simon.
Straps forged at Iron Ridge, Waipara.
Year2014

Staircase Leadlights

Staircase Leadlights

This design shows the stormy and benign sides
of the headland where the window is based
Year1984
Bi-Directional Deco Screen

Bi-Directional Deco Screen

Different words and vague narrative
are presented from each side.
Year2004
Cathedral Food Co-op

Cathedral Food Co-op

A graphic for the Cathedral's food co-op van
referencing the iconic Rose Window of the
now shattered structure.