A Blend of Old and New

American designer, artist and engineer Ben Tew explains how the traditional tools and objects that adorn his Sheffield studio help keep him grounded.

With a studio in Sheffield’s Portland Works – a former cutlery works that was built in 1879 and later converted into various workshops – Ben Tew is not short of inspiration. With neighbours that include a joiner, a blacksmith and a guitar maker, Baltimore native Tew is able to collaborate with and draw upon the work of “a fantastic collection of makers working in both old and new ways.”