The Studio
I’m Tim Main, a sculptor and pattern designer based in Christchurch, New Zealand.
I make sculpture in ceramic and wood, and develop patterns for fabric. These are connected parts of my practice, shaped by an interest in the natural world and the possibilities of working with different materials.
This is my online studio, where I share the finished work and something of the process behind it. You can explore what I’m making, see how it develops, and collect work directly from me.
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The workshop
I grew up around Woolston, a Christchurch neighbourhood with a history of manufacturing and making. I feel a connection to that past, particularly to the skill of the people who worked there and the knowledge built through years of practice.
That kind of learning is familiar to me. My own way of working has developed through years in the workshop, returning to forms and ideas and refining them through deliberate iteration. Through repetition, I work on both mastery of my tools and materials and an intuitive approach to form that comes from long hours absorbed in making.
Over time, those daily experiences shape more than the way something is made. They influence what I notice, the ideas I return to, and the work I choose to pursue.
The practice
I’m drawn to the order and purpose I see in nature, and my work is a way of expressing that.
the language
In my sculpture and pattern design, I look for shapes and details that give a subject its character.
I develop these into forms that I return to throughout my work, building a visual language of my own.
Repeated in a pattern, these forms can suggest more than a single bird or plant. They can stand for nature as a whole.
Explore the work.
