Hello and welcome to Hooper Hart - home to unique wooden art and accessories, specialising in miniature framed dioramas depicting imaginary scenes from around the British Isles and beyond with a contemporary Folk Art flavour.
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Everything you see in the store is designed and handmade by myself in Scotland. I also have a blog at www.hooperhart.com where you can find out about more news and events. Thanks for visiting!

Hello and welcome to HooperHart - home to unique, handcrafted wooden art and accessories

My name is Cal and I live by theTay Estuary in Fife, Scotland and work out of a shared studio in Perth. I taught myself to screenprint in 2015, experimenting with pattern and surface until I decided to concentrate on printing on birch plywood - it was great to print on and I really liked the texture the of the ink on this surface. I started off making wooden postcards, jewellery and accessories; this led to really utilising the laser cutting aspect, which in turn led to the development of the dioramas which you see in the shop. Due to space constraints I've taken to hand-painting everything, which has definitely influenced the direction my work has taken in the last couple of years.

The pictures take a long time to plan and make; I draw the design on paper; photograph each part which will become a piece of wood; use PhotoShop to make it a solid black shape; use Inkscape to turn that shape into a vector drawing, then finally I lay out all my vector drawings on a virtual canvas ready for laser cutting. Working out the layers of wood and the measurements to ensure they fit accurately into a frame is a bit of a challenge at times, but I have found I really enjoy the detail of it. I love the fact that I can draw a shape on paper and it can become a piece of wood. It's really exciting when the wood is cut and I'm ready to start assembling! Each diorama is individually painted and constructed piece by piece. No two are ever the same; the colour scheme, the backgrounds I use, the placement of the wooden shapes - all of these vary each time, making a unique piece of art.

The dioramas are inspired by various things - my memories of cardboard dioramas I played with as a child, and also my time working with a theatre designer on stage sets and props. I've always been fascinated by theatre design since I had the job of painting sets for my high school production of the Wizard of Oz! Also, my mum was a theatrical costume designer, so my love of theatre is probably in the blood. The idea of creating little contained worlds in a designated space really appeals to me.

I use FSC approved birch ply, and have began incorporating mounting board into my work, which enables me to get extremely fine detail. I use board off-cuts from a local framers, and try to source the majority of my materials from independent British businesses in the knowledge that they are ethically produced and well-made. I am grateful for each and every time someone purchases my work, and am a firm supporter of the Just A Card campaign, which encourages consumers to buy from independent businesses.

Incidentally, the name Hooperhart is an amalgamation of my mum's maiden name (Bosshart) and my gran's maiden name (Hooper) :)

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