Ideas must be put to the test. That's why we make things; otherwise they would be no more than ideas. There is often a huge difference between an idea and its realization. I've had what I thought were great ideas that just didn't work.

Once the fired stone is out of the kiln, it is still possible to mentally reconstruct it in its original form.

There's a huge number of things that are occurring with the ice works which fascinate me enormously, but it's driven by this kind of frantic race against time. And whilst that creates a huge amount of tension and problems, it's a tension that I think I feed off.

The things that I make are that which a person will make. They're not meant to mimic nature. They are nothing but the result of a hand of a person.

It's frightening and unnerving to watch a stone melt.

I think I have been fashioned by the fickle weather of Britain that it is - it's forever changing. There's no kind of constant sun or dry weather or freezing weather, and I'm always having to change and adapt to that.

Design implies a sense of mapping something out and then you follow the plan.