Tobias Kaye

I am motivated as a craftsman to find the link between the search for truth and beauty in what I make and that search in the soul/spiritual reality. This affects my work in two ways:

Firstly I seek to work my wood with a respect for it and the tree that it came from that reflects my realisation that we are both living beings sharing the same life-space. This goes beyond ecology into the more metaphysical areas of shared meaning in life. It would be daft to assume that as co-citizens of Earth we do not share a purpose. The question is what is that purpose and how can my working with the wood effect that purpose.

Secondly I seek that my work should have some positive affect in the lives of others. This can be as simple as making things that others can truly enjoy or as complex as seeking to suit my instrumental sculptures to the therapeutic applications that many of my customers buy them for.

The Sounding Bowls such as number 103 illustrated here have been used as many things by many people. For some they are a graceful addition to an art collection. For others they are a way into making music that had been sought and not found with other instruments. Some of  my customers are professional music therapists and find their Sounding Bowls open up doors in their work that no other instrument does. Some of my customers are use their Sounding Bowls for meditation, allowing the sound, the notes, the wood and the shape to open doors of spirit that mandalas and mantras might open for others.

To my mind the search for truth in how I work is not different from the search that my works should bring some good into the world.