SIMON HEATH THE CRAFTSMAN'S JOURNEY - PART 1

Simon Heath Star of The Crafty Countryman series opens up about his life, and explains what a massive impact art had for him growing up.

In these mini articles we will start from the beginning, and over the following months we will follow his journey from a boy to a master craftsman.

This has not been an overnight success this has been years of hard graft

A fascinating story of a wonderfully talented man

Simon Heath - The Craftsman's Journey in His Words Part 1 

From not having a good or happy childhood I was lucky enough to have a farm to go on owned by my grandparents and uncle, which was my place to go at every opportunity. I could go weekends and school holidays, so I spent a lot of time with my grandad repairing things in his shed and one of those things was his walking sticks he had made. The handles always came loose and I remember thinking there must be a better way to fix these on properly, I was only 9 or 10.

So now I start making my own sticks with some success, I made a few here and there. I was always interested in art and nature; I had a good understanding of shape and form. So much later I saw a magazine article front cover in 1984 which inspired me to have a serious go at being a stick maker, with the hopes that one day I may be able to make a living from it. AND NOW IT BEGINS

SH