Biography

Brought up in Bath, Alexander's first and abiding influence was trees, which he calls "the greatest sculptures of them all". With much of his childhood spent up and down trees and wandering the woods around his home, it was no surprise that he became a professional tree surgeon at the earliest opportunity, a craft which took him all over the world, and particularly to Spain and Italy and through the emerging countries of Europe. It was on these travels (in his own mobile home) that Alexander became more and more interested in the superb wrought ironwork in many of the great cities and estates in which he worked. This was to lead to the idea of drawing together two threads in his life: natural forms and wrought iron artistry.

Today, as a qualified blacksmith working in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, and living next to his forge, Alexander specialises in traditional and contemporary hand-forged ironwork, with a natural fluidity that is his own special signature. The structures of trees and plants - and particularly ferns - are almost always evident in his work, characterised by curved and coiled details and unexpected twists.

"There is nothing to match the experience of fire and forgework using age-old techniques, at the same time pushing the very limits of how iron can change form. This is the great challenge today. I am also particularly interested in the contrast between severe and geometric manmade patterns and soft, flowing organic shapes."