Simon Hawkes

Simon Hawkes is an artist and metalshaper who creates sculptural copper vessels using the traditional technique of raising. Working from flat copper sheet, he hammers and shapes the metal over a steel stake, drawing it into form. His experience making steel and aluminium bodies for historic cars also informs his work with sheet metal. Each vessel is finished with patination or other surface-colouring methods, producing distinctive hues and textures while often retaining visible hammer marks.

Inspired by coastal landscapes, rock formations and natural forms, Hawkes’s pieces include vessels, paired works and experimental sculptures. His subjects include seagrass, shoreline patterns and the meeting of land and sea. Some works explore additional treatments such as chasing, acid etching and ceramic-inspired Obvara techniques. He also develops maquettes for larger sculptures, with commissions potentially tailored in size and material.

Raising is recognised as a critically endangered craft on the Heritage Crafts Red List. Hawkes’s vessels have been exhibited at institutions and galleries including the Royal Academy, the Royal West of England Academy, the Royal Cambrian Academy and Whitewater Contemporary Gallery.