Since childhood I have felt torn between the appeal of rationality and authenticity, and its opposite: the seductive lure of the florid and the fake.

The stern black and white illustrations of my father’s book on Le Corbusier made a big impression, but so did Theodore Komisarjevsky’s gloriously phony ‘Moorish’ interiors of the Granada Cinema in nearby Walthamstow.

When practicing Architecture the drive to create something with a sense of permanence that ages well and has the robustness to withstand change has been a defining factor in my work. Throughout my career the alternative has generally been to accept the joyless compromise and meagre aspirations enforced by the dominant procurement routes of the day.

But even when striving for rigour and simplicity my love of incidental detail and the mess of real life often crept into my drawings, and I have enjoyed throwing off the shackles of good taste since I stepped down from full-time practice.

I’m not sure who the target audience is for a lot of what I design. I am proud to consider my work as sitting within the realm of the decorative arts. I hope you will find the same enjoyment in exploring my work as I would derive from an afternoon in one of the more deserted corners of the V&A Museum.