Speaking the Trees

Not many woodworkers, when asked what tool they would like to be able to buy, would answer ‘a better forklift’. But a forklift is indeed an indispensable tool for English sculptor, Alison Crowther. Perhaps the most breathtaking aspect of her work, when you first see it, is its physical size. One striking example, now a fixture in the main lobby of Tower 7, One Shenzhen Bay, China, is carved from a 5m x 1.3m log of English oak weighing around 13 tons, and whilst most other works are considerably smaller, anything less than a forklift would not suffice for moving many of them.

However, producing sculptures this size was not initially her ambition. Born on the north-west edge of West Yorkshire in 1965, she studied furniture design (but not furniture making) at the Royal College of