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This is a re-carved sculpture, it was originally the stone flask piece, which I was never happy with so I re-carved it in order to better use the piece of jade stone.

The upturned mallet idea did occur to me in Beijing, so it was not a totally out-of-the-blue concept. England in Chinese is literally referred to as 'hero country' in the way they combine symbols to create words. I wanted to combine this idea with my role as a 'heroic' macho sculptor, symbolised by my hammer/mallet. This concept didn't really have enough conviction with me in China, it was only recently that I realised that I could exploit the translucency of the jade with the form of the tool i.e. the thinner shaft would be paler than the thicker head, alluding to the function of a hammer having a weight and mass at one end. This seemed to make the sculpture more 'right'.

I do see this piece as something of a prototype, if I had the money and wherewithal I think it would be interesting to mass produce it, using lathes to carve the jade, making it more of a consumer item, more accessible. I don't think its uniqueness is a major part of its appeal.