I came to instrument building late in life, although I’ve played guitar since I was twelve. After gaining a degree in painting in Aberdeen, Scotland I went to work in fine art publishing, which eventually took me to New Zealand. There I found it easier to shake off my preconceptions about what I could do, and I started making ‘things’. Simple furniture, basic blacksmithing - I just wanted to make the tools I used and the objects in my life. A love of film photography led to a photo series on makers, and my first introduction to luthiery through local maker Peter Stephen. Around this time I was getting into folk and trad music, and fell in love with the mandolin. It seemed like a bright idea to make one…

When I first moved to Aotearoa New Zealand from Scotland I was fascinated by the change in my view of the moon. Familiar with the northern hemisphere’s ‘Man in the Moon’, a piece of pareidolia which I’ve never really been able to connect with, I loved the fact that I could clearly now see a rabbit in the moon. It was a strong visual reminder for me of the distance I was from my home, so I started doodling images of it, and began to daydream of how I might incorporate it in the things I was starting to make. The headstock of a mandolin presented the perfect solution. And yes, I know it’s technically a lepus rather than a rabbit, but let’s not split hares.