I like glass, it’s just cool. I like that you can see through it, I like the materiality, the colours and the fact that it can be playful. I like retro things in general, it suits the aesthetic I’m interested in – clean spaces, arrangements of light, timber, steel and glass. I also like watching glass-blowers. I think that it’s a really cool thing to do and it’s fascinating being able to watch a liquid material change into something solid. Actually, from what I understand, glass is still liquid even when it looks solid – those old windows you sometimes see are actually an elongated drip. If you section through them, they’re thicker at the bottom.

My first piece of glass was my grandad’s pipe ashtray – it’s a green, round piece (left). That was the first one I ever had. It was left to me when grandad died – either that or I just thought it was cool and nabbed it. My second piece was from my other grandfather; it was another green bubbly ashtray, but this time for cigarettes. So I started with those. I liked the look of them and how heavy they were, and just slowly started collecting other bits and pieces as I found them, from places like the Grey Lynn Festival, where there used to be a guy selling glass, and a guy just off Ponsonby Road, and various second-hand shops.

My favourite pieces have some sentimental value. My collection has grown from gifts and inheritance, birthday presents and wedding presents. A piece my wife gave me sits on my desk at work. She’s given me a couple of pieces. My mum also used to give me a piece for Christmas every year. One she got in London was quite old, blown in 1901, and she also gave me the little horse – for the Year of the Horse. It’s Baccarat glass she got in Japan, so I guess that’s a bit of fancy stuff. The tall vases came from my nana. The yellow one is from my great Aunty Jean. They were just the kind of decoration you had back in the day, and time hasn’t diminished their appeal.