COLIN PURDY Woodturner, Designer, Metalworker.
I have always been a maker in many materials. At present my main work is in woodturning. The variety and the beauty of wood, its grain and bark appeals to me. During my 30 years of woodturning, I have kept discovering new ways to display these qualities.
I also work in metal, starting out as an engineer, then I taught for many years. I am keen to develop new tools for woodturning & am always experimenting with new ways of working and often my approach challenges traditional methods. These tools often mean using metalworking to make or improve standard tools.
Beaten metalwork has always appealed to me and I find pushing metal around with a hammer good fun. Cold forging sheet steel is hard work but satisfying to produce such strong and permanent results.
With my experience in guiding Sixth Formers in their A level projects as well as building a house, my readiness to undertake a wide variety of commissions is always an option.