Benc ¬ 

Influence in his designs by a small group of close confidants including his family and friends. They are an inspiring feature in his life and works, often incouraging him to follow different trains of thought and direction in his projects.

His life has been interwoven with the materials in his products, as a child peering into the swamps & bogs stalking in the forests of Corlough mountains in County Cavan, Ireland, before receiving his education & introduction into the traditional crafting of wood by several gifted tutors of the West Midlands in Sutton Coldfield, UK.

 Taking an apprenticeship repairing & sailing with vintage wooden yacht's in the Caribbean, where he also worked as a deck hand. He then spent several of the preceeding years as a trainee to shipwrights in Brighton Marina, becoming familiarised with modern resins, & universal shapes required. In the following years he reversed the ideas learned from the boat building and making vessels to keep water out, to working on site creating forms used to retain various amounts of concrete in, so helping to construct the modern skylines of London and elsewhere.  In this period he took breaks swapping the concrete jungle for tracking expeditions through savannah & bushland of parts of the Zambezi escarpment in Southern Africa.

His hands were constantly turned to the fashioning of this gift of nature, and so wood plays a big influence in his creativity. Leaving full time construction years ago to pursue his creative interests, it now dominates his work. The design s are now made out of discarded and reclaimed timber in addition to the found materials in still waters.  Ben's crafting today is made up of commissions & sale of originals. 

He is happy to chat to anyone either considering ordering a piece of his sculpting or  working together on a new product.