From surf to sandstone

With time to properly settle into this practice, it’s been so special to reflect on how surfing has quietly, yet powerfully, ignited this deep connection to sandstone, something I wasn’t even fully aware of until now.

I’ve loved surfing since I was 13. Back then, it was simply part of my surroundings, something that caught my curious eye. Over the next ten years, it became a way to connect with friends, explore up and down the coast, challenge myself, and commit to getting better at something I genuinely enjoyed.

But in the last four or so years, I’ve truly fallen in love with it. The connection to the ocean, the post-surf energy, the calm in between waves, the dance of riding, it’s become more than just a hobby. It’s something I feel deeply. I get excited by certain waves and how I might ride them a certain way. There’s an art to it now.

Seventeen years of floating in these waters, surrounded by sandstone headlands, often using them as a point of entry into the ocean, has deeply influenced the art and design practice I now call my own. It’s something that came to me naturally. I didn’t chase it or force it, it found me.

My love for aesthetics, interiors, architecture, fashion, craftsmanship, and hard work now blend into one evolving form. And yet, it continues to branch out in new directions. People often ask, “What art school did you go to?” or “Who taught you this?” The truth is, this is all self-taught, a practice shaped by feeling, observing, and trusting my own eye.

Those years spent among the sandstone cliffs of the Australian coastline have definitely helped shape the work I create today. I’m so grateful for surfing, for my able body, and for the land and waters that let me play, create, explore myself and this world.

Hopefully, all of this allows me to spread love and give back in the process.

With love,

Tom x