Creative Reuse, Interpretation & Heritage Strategy
the art of storytelling in physical space
…weaving story, space & sensory experience
I am a Heritage, Narrative & Creative Reuse Strategist with 20+ years’ experience shaping museums, historic buildings and cultural landscapes in the UK, USA and Europe. With a background that spans BBC documentary director, architectural heritage consultant and exhibition designer, I specialise in uncovering the story of a place and using it to guide design, planning and interpretation. I work closely with architects, designers, cultural organisations and communities to create meaningful, context-rich projects that honour heritage while enabling powerful transformation. My portfolio includes work with Alexandra Palace, Southbank Centre, the Ashmolean Museum, the Empire State Building and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
Connecting to Place
The Backstory…
After ten years as a documentary film-maker at the BBC in London, I retrained in Architectural Regeneration and joined architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios as part of their Creative Reuse Team. Embedded within the design team, and starting from the premise that every building and landscape tells a story, I worked across the practice to deliver dozens of cultural, heritage and landscape projects.
“One must have the utmost respect for matter.
It is the starting point. It dictates the work. It imposes it.”
Joan Miró
The emotional layer…
Contemporary or ancient, materials define and describe our experience of the world. They also broker the relationship between our bodies and our environment — both built and grown.
Making and haptics are essential to my creative practice, using installations, books, film, planting, ceramics and textile interventions. As a keen ceramist, and an eternally curious gardener, I am passionate about the value of the material and natural world around us.
Culture & Nature
In 2017 I moved to New York as Creative Director at Thinc Design to join the team working with Grimshaw and Eden Project International on the Sustainability Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020. Offering fun, intrigue and hard interactive choices, the host pavilion explores humankind’s relationship with nature, our obsession with excessive consumerism, and brokers ideas for changing our everyday choices to reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact.
.
“Take time to look…”
Georgia O’Keeffe
In New Mexico I worked with diverse communities of residents, students, artists, and museum staff on shaping a more inclusive and sensory experience at a new museum campus celebrating the life and work of Georgia O’Keeffe. Considered by some as a genius of modernism, by others as a feminist icon, and still others as a settler abusing her white privilege, this work helped deepen my understanding of the complex relationship between culture, nature, and identity – and added to my conviction that the stories we tell are as important as ecology and data in creating healthy buildings, healthy communities, and a healthy planet.
Culture & Climate
Current Work…
Now based in the UK full-time, I live in the UNESCO World Heritage City of Bath. Current and recent projects include the ambitious UN Live Museum for the UN in Copenhagen, developing an entirely new paradigm of a museum to engage local and global communities in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In the UK, I am working with a number of historic sites and buildings, each one needing to evolve to meet the needs of 21st century audiences.
