Wild Works Ltd

About Wild Works

Karen Boulton and Jonathan Briggs

Wild Works is a creative metalworking partnership formed, in unusual circumstances, to bring beauty to dull household objects, like switch covers.

Karen is a Seattlelite but after a damp childhood fled the rain in 1976 to California. There she taught art in schools, and explored ceramics, fabric design, mural painting and print-making. Karen's work with copper and zinc etching plates led to the current focus on metalwork. Travel and personal independence have been strong influences, leading her to travel widely in Europe and Mexico. From 1985 until 1988 she lived in England, learning the craft of jewelry.

Jonathan is British but spent much time abroad and at-large as a youth in South-east Asia, attending schools in Thailand and Singapore. He reluctantly returned to England in 1980 to study the business of Business, and work out how to travel again.

In 1988, after a promising start up the corporate ladder, the desire for travel and independence took Jonathan to Kenya where he met Karen by chance in Nairobi. They traveled together for four months through East, Central and North Africa by truck - camping on the plains, jungles and deserts. This adventure created the partnership, which was sealed with a four month honeymoon in West Africa. In 1991 they moved to Seattle to start this joint (ad)venture.

Learning skills from each other, Wild Works has evolved into a contemporary metalwork studio utilizing patina and engraving techniques. Bold designs reflect a desire to be different, and encourage customers to replace ordinary household objects with something that will enhance their home and imagination.