I'm terribly fastidious. I like symmetry and neatness, but my house is as chaotic as any other family's.

Building a house from scratch in the middle of a field is a bit like building a prototype car. As with all prototypes, if you're building a car you usually have the luxury of producing several prototypes before you arrive at the production line version - so the opportunity for changing things is quite rich.

I like the absurd and the surreal: the Coen brothers, Bunuel, Kubrick.

I don't enjoy living in a white box flooded with light. I like shadows, small spaces, old furniture.

I'm not too fond of really cool design. I've got quite kitsch taste really, in things like tableware. I'm quite a sucker for 1930s pressed glass.

Every decently-made object, from a house to a lamp post to a bridge, spoon or egg cup, is not just a piece of 'stuff' but a physical embodiment of human energy, testimony to the magical ability of our species to take raw materials and turn them into things of use, value and beauty.