Gravity Canvas Instruments
Helping performance artists paint space and time with light and movement
The story so far...
When you truly find your Ikigai (the Japanese concept that refers to having a sense of purpose or reason for being) is when real change happens in your life. Everything before that time, is just research.
The founding of Gravity Canvas arose as the obvious answer to where the energy of a myriad of professional skills picked up and practiced in so many different disciplines over 25+ years had to go.
The four principles of ikigai are often represented as a Venn diagram highlights the intersection of... what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for
What I love...
From an early age, growing up with my father who is an electronic and mechanical engineer, I was inspired by the physical world and how we as humans have the ability to interact with the laws of nature to infinitely shape materials around us into whatever our imaginations allow.
And through this inspiration I have studied from an innate recreational need, worked in professional industries and received some diplomas in areas such as Sculptural and Architectural Fabrication, Mechanical Repair, restoration and Modification, Graphic Design and Print-Making, Illustration, 3D design, Product Design, Metal-Working and Carpentry.
My mother having worked in Primary School administration, counselling and in general being a keen observer and lover of movement and people's individuality in this human experience, instilled on me the love for dance, expression, working with and caring for others.
These skills shine in my love for working in teams or leading teams in professions such as Event Coordination, Performer Coordination, Fire Space Facilitation.
I first, without realising it, found "flow" at a young age in the world of mountain biking. Be that street and park riding, dirt jumping or downhill racing in the French Alps, I knew the "language" of flow arts long before I was introduced to the object manipulation community in 2014.
But it wasn't until I moved to Australia in 2017 for 7 years, where I fell in love with where all my skills started to coalesce into one all-encompassing entity.
Quickly being welcomed into some of Australia's top fire performer and prop-making circles resulted in me being taken under Flowmancer's wing to run his order fulfilment/fabrication department for 6 years. An experience I greatly owe a lot of thanks to for getting me to where I am now.
Having the fortune to frequent festivals and "doofs" a plenty, proudly as build crew, a fire performer/coordinator and fire safety/coordinator, I realised my potential in an industry where all my talents were in one place.
Art, Design, expression, Fabrication, Dance and Collaboration.
What I am good at...
Problem solving with patience and attention to detail.
You can probably tell by how neat my knot tying is, that catharsis is a good friend of mine. Tutors have told me that I have a "respect for the process"
I'm a very diligent individual and I greatly enjoy the challenge of understanding a system and how it operates. Not only for my nerdy inquisitory needs, but because innovation is born out of what comes before, born from the things we discover in our personal journeys that inspire us to write the next chapter.
I'm very experienced with the practicality of fabrication and the artistic exploration of design, but ultimately, I need you.
One of my favourite quotes which comes from the Dutch graphic designer, Rudy Vanderlans is:
“They enjoy giving form to ideas. If designers were made of ideas, they'd be their own clients.”
What I am good at is bringing ideas to life through design and fabrication. But my imagination only goes my way.
I love to collaborate with people and help bring their thoughts to form with my skills.
What the world needs...
In an era of AI slop, drop-shipping, internet immediacy and cheap dopamine, I think we should be proud that our esoteric community thrives on the need for the human touch and through that, the reminder that all that we enjoy comes from the beauty of nature and that we are intrinsically part of that nature.
The arts needs protecting, it needs our support and restless influence.
What can I be paid for...
unabashedly recognising my worth has been a massive contributing factor in committing to Gravity Canvas as an extension of my skills.
In order to continue to grow and provide high-quality products that do the same for others, I will keep crafting, I will keep dreaming and creating, all the way up until the lights go out.