Steven John Clark of DenHolm

Inspired to create pieces that last a lifetime, Steven John Clark of DenHolm works with stone to craft engaging artworks in his Melbourne studio.

Initially deterred from following a career in a trade, Clark’s path has led him to becoming a prominent designer in stone. During a festival in Ibiza, he bumped into a fellow festival goer who had made their own outfits. Inspired, he created his own clothing for the next festival and soon found that his creations earned him a lot of attention. After this, he went on to study fashion in Manchester. Knowing that he could not return to his small Scottish town to pursue his dreams in design, and not having much interest in moving to London, Clark and his partner relocated to Melbourne, Australia.

Mostly working with limestone, a material that he first started working with when he selected South Australian limestone for his client’s plinth, Clark creates timeless pieces that are designed to last a lifetime.

After finding a way to stay in Australia, Clark returned to a career in stonemasonry. Following this for the next six years, he soon began to feel the itch to create and let his creativity be free. Once he was settled in, he was approached by a leathersmith in a nearby studio who wanted a stone plinth made for a photoshoot. After creating the plinth, he dropped it off to the client and found everyone excited to see his final artwork. Assuming that it took him over a month to make, the clients were wowed to find that it only took four hours, and it was this fact that drove him to return to his love of creating transformative artwork.

Mostly working with limestone, a material that he first started working with when he selected South Australian limestone for his client’s plinth, Clark creates timeless pieces that are designed to last a lifetime. He also gives each of his pieces a human name so to further enrich their lifespan, story and character.

Initially deterred from following a career in a trade, Clark’s path has led him to becoming a prominent designer in stone.

Clark does not see the sculptures he makes as the finished piece but instead considers how they will fit into their surrounds. He applies a free-flowing approach to sketching and continues with this approach into the sculpting stage. After the image is drawn, he goes about figuring out how to best manipulate the weight across the sculpture before drawing directly onto the stone. Believing that this is only the first step in creating something, he does not allow himself to be caged by the drawing and instead lets the object speak to him. With each DenHolm piece, Clark wants to create a level of engagement that can be appreciated and incite conversation even from afar.

Artwork and design by DenHolm.