Raef loves the light from candles, he feels that the quality of light from a candle flame is warming and gives reassurance in a somewhat dark world, even though one candle produces just one hundredth of the illumination of a modern light bulb.
The small ritual of striking a light and igniting the wick has been a significant reassuring ritual for millennia, it is why candles are still used today to represent lost souls or loved ones, they represent a fragile yet tangible flickering reminder that lights up the dark unknown. They light the way but equally produce moving shadows that have provided a wealth of stories and probably instilled the fear of the dark in our collective psyche.
His work is created from found and quarried stones, new and recycled copper, bronze, nickel silver, stainless steel, gilding metal and silver, sheet and tube, sometimes glass. Each design is on a theme but unique.