Bio

Early Life

As an only child I spent a relatively solitary childhood immersed in a world of my own creation. With busy parents, the ability to amuse myself became essential. The majority of my time was spent drawing (space ships, animals and cartoons), digging in the garden (fashioning weapons out of branches), and building or wrecking Lego models. When I did meet with friends, we would pitch together our creations, building "bases" to plot our schemes or else head for the hills on some adventure or another.

To be honest, not much has changed these days.

Education

The credo on my Montessori school cert, received in 1985, was

"the essence of independence is to be able to do something for oneself".

This I believe instilled a trait that always sought to get to the bottom (or top!) of things. I preferred personal awareness and experience of something, learning early that relying on others is not always that reliable.

I was fortunate to go to multi-denominational schools where I received an education in an atmosphere of co-operation and respect for other's values. This brought a greater social awareness and love for people and a desire to figure out how they worked. An understanding for the bonds that connect us developed and how they are affected by change.

Third level education was one such change, and an opportunity to focus efforts into a discipline that would shape the rest of my life. I applied for courses in Art, Architecture, Furniture Design, Interior Design, Model Making, and Linguistics(!). I received a place for Architecture in Scotland but missed out in my home city of Dublin. My desire to stay here was stronger than that for pure Architecture, so I settled with a course in Interior + Furniture Design in Dublin city centre.

Here I developed a love for the world of design, studying the history, philosophy and psychology of design, and the masters that have shaped our world. We were exposed to a diverse range of the design world but had to eventually focus on our core pursuit. My scope was cast upon Organic Architecture, eco-design principles and the wisdom of fields such as Sustainability, Permaculture, Bau Biology, Eastern spatial planning, etc. I also realised a passion for Graphic Design and the aesthetics of presentation.

The Real World

By the end of my college career I couldn't wait to get out into the "Real World", that scary term bandied about so much on the threshold of adulthood. Everything before seemed like a trial, and now was time to test that training. With a reasonable toolkit of skills under my belt I set out to conquer the world! Well, I thought I'd give being a grown-up my best shot at any rate.

The talk of getting a job was at the top of everybody's lips. I had sustained myself through college working in a bookshop and doing the odd nixer, but now was time to get a "proper" job. I vowed to get one of these when the nixers ran out. I'm still waiting.

The True World

The pursuit of independence and excellence has driven me to make a life work that satisfies the needs of the individual (me) with the needs of the world around me. That means working on my own terms while making sure that doesn't interfere with the terms of others. Striking this balance is tough work and may take a life time to get right, but the process in getting there is the most rewarding experience I have found.

Self-awareness and Empathy are the key ingredients, and they are cultivated through a life of study, research, reflection, creativity, bonding and clear expression. With awareness, doubt ceases, releasing you from a bondage that is unnecessary. Know thyself, said Socrates, which I like to add "and you know the world around you". An awareness of the self and of others will tell you all you need to know about life. This is what I tell myself anyway.

With this in mind, I have gravitated towards a love of expression through whatever media seems appropriate, and a desire to make deep and lasting connections. By solving the problems that vex me I hope that the solutions may benefit others with similar problems. By developing skills that I hold in high regard I hope will be of interest to others who also regard such skills.

Lewcreative and Beyond

With broad interest comes a need for interconnectivity, and a means to tie things together in an effective and relevant manner. All Jack needs is an awareness of how to connect his trades, then he will master all.

Lewcreative then looks for order in variety fuelled by the chaos it finds along the way. I don't always know where I am headed or what's going to happen, so I have tried to develop an ability to "creatively jam" with the experiences and opportunities that present themselves everyday. By focusing on some core skills and spending lots of hours doing them, I hope to be able to meet the challenges I face with confidence and a vision to see through the obstacles.

Jusque la tout va bien!

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