silver & ivory choker Sculpture

Being born in Lisbon in 1959, to a family with strong ties to the arts - painters, illustrators, designers, sculptors, etc... - he grew surrounded by creativity & was encouraged to follow his own he has specialised over the years in producing pieces by commission sometimes even using & recycling objects/materials his clients have that they no longer use or wish to transform : a broken ivory billiard ball or bracelet, a turtleshell, rings as centrepieces for pendants or necklaces - most everything can be transformed into a highly personal object or jewel, the sky is the limit !.. started as a child helping his mother in her atelier restoring & recreating antiques, revealing early on an inclination for drawing, sculpting, etc.. a conventional academic path was not being mandatory or enforced, before finishing high-school i enrolled in Escola Secundária Artística António Arroio since i wanted to proceed to Escola Superior de Belas Artes this happened right after the 25th of April Revolution & as fun as it was, fact is the schooling system went into total disarray, so i soon realised i would be wasting my time & decided to drop out - after all i had some of the best teachers right at home... eager to set out on my own, at 17 i ended up renting a small peasant's house in the algarve countryside, no running water or electricity, & installed my first atelier to produce my work - a mix of small & cheap jewelery to sell to tourists in Albufeira by the beach + a few more ''serious'' items for the discerning traveler.. some years later his Mother & Sister opened a shop in downtown Albufeira - Abracadabra.. - which became very well known for it's eclectic & tasteful mix of costume & ethnic jewellery from around the globe, objets d'art, work from local craftsmen, et al + my Sister's own original creations this became the best possible way to showcase my work & garner commissions... later becoming a bit disenchanted with the extremely seasonal life in the Algarve, i moved to an uncle's farm in the north of Portugal & for whatever reason my work ''blossomed'' shortly after that the first exhibitions happened, roughly one every 2 years or so... among all this i undertook several interior design projects, dabbled in a bit of motorcycle restoration for friends, criss crossed the planet every chance i got by boat, by plane, by bus, hitchhiking, on my motorcycles, you name it... a few years ago i came back to settle in Albufeira again