I design, develop and fabricate large-scale creative work for the outdoors: festivals, parades and public celebrations. Working across sculpture, giant puppetry, carnival and visual spectacle, I combine creative design with technical problem-solving and specialist fabrication to bring ambitious ideas to life.
My work considers the practical demands of outdoor performance and public display, from lightweight construction and structural stability to transportation, assembly, installation and durability.
With over two decades of experience, I create visually striking work that balances artistic ambition with the technical and logistical realities of live events and touring productions.
Spirit Of Courage
Global Grooves | 2022 The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant
Designer, Lead Fabricator, Production Manager
Lead designer and fabricator of a large-scale processional sculptural ship created for the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. Responsible for developing and realising the design, coordinating fabrication and mentoring artists and volunteers throughout production.
Working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team, I helped deliver the ambitious centrepiece to a demanding production schedule, combining creative vision, practical problem-solving and hands-on fabrication.
Delivered in collaboration with Global Grooves, Cabasa Carnival Arts, Future Leaders and a wider team of specialist artists and makers.
Mechanised cart framework: Mike Pattison
Horse sculpture: Tony Mason
Wave sculpture and mould-making: Ross
Horse sculpture: Tony Mason
Wave sculpture and mould-making: Ross
With thanks to the supporting artists and volunteers who contributed to the production.
Poppy
Nutkhut | 2024
Touring Cultural celebratory events
Giant illuminated poppy that tours cultural events across the UK.
Aluminium and silk petals mounted onto a modular aluminium base frame, with fiberoptics, el wire and Floods.
Step by step instructions on assembly/ storing and transportation
4m x 2.5m
HIBISCUS
Giant Illuminated hibiscus
Phool Bloom: Bradford LIT Festival 2023
Divali Marble Arch
Rose
Phool Bloom: Bradford LIT Festival 2023
Divali Marble Arch
Princess and the Chickpea
Nutkhut and Cirque Bijou Collaboration
This reimagined large-scale outdoor performance version of “Princess and the Pea” transports audiences from 16th-century Mughal India to modern-day Southeast Asia.
We created a giant 4 poster bed made from a combination of of scaffolding poles, aluminium poles, tube clamps, fishing rods and royal drapes, a giant, quilted , raising mattress operated by pulleys, giant props, cushions, bolsters, Giant gilded birdcage come chickpea cage and giant bed time story book. All to be installed by 2 people in under an hour, and all fitting in the back of a 4m wheelbase van.
Full handover to cast in person.
Design and making time : 6 weeks
All At Sea
Scenic/ props commission to dress boat
Our exploration of what gives meaning to life, All At Sea combined bittersweet theatre and melancholic humor in a moving and intimate performance.
The Wheelhouse
Set Designer/ Dresser
Combining striking design and theatrical acrobatics, the show unfolded within a unique, circular set as it rolled through its audience.
A tender love story set in a dystopian (but possibly not too far off) future, the show played with the confines and fragile balance of a constantly rolling wheel in an exploration of friendship, and its essential place in our perseverance and survival in extreme situations.
Exeter Unexpected
Exeter Unexpected Festival
Site specific Costume Props commission
Oceanallover
Gifting Tree
Spinning Puppet Tree Designer/ Dresser and Costume Maker -
Devizes Carnival. DOCA
Making Carnival accessible to those unable to participate in person, working in care homes, and with those experiencing early stage of dementia.
Using the idea of treasures, wishes and gifts as the overarching theme, the tree symbolises age, blossoming, growth, wisdom - decorated with leaves and flowers. These were made by participants who embossed their wishes / memories for their lives onto the aluminium leaves, using the carnival as a platform to celebrate together.
Tree shape and spinning mechanics: Tony Mason
