Biography

Born in Oxford in 1966, David Goode grew up in the small Midlands town of Leek, Staffordshire, just north of Stoke on Trent. Stoke on Trent, also known as The Potteries, was the heartland of the Victorian pottery industry, and to this day is still home to many world-famous pottery houses such as Royal Doulton and Wedgwood.

At the age of eighteen David trained at The Sir Henry Doulton School of Sculpture, specialising in portrait and figurative sculpture.

In 1988 David became a portrait sculptor at the London Studios of Madame Tussauds.

At twenty-one he was the youngest sculptor ever to have been offered such a position and in his six years with Tussauds he was able to travel the world for sittings with many famous figures.

Some of his most notable works for Tussauds include Freddie Mercury, Joan Collins, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan and Yasser Arafat.

A sitting with Joan Collins

In 1994 David became a freelance sculptor, taking on private commissions and exhibiting his own work.

Figure studies

The following year he produced the Snailmaker, the first piece in what would later become the goblin collection, which was introduced to the public eye at the Chelsea Flower Show of that year.

David has since returned to Oxford, where he now lives and works with his wife Jo, twin sons Jake and Harry and daughter Isabel (after whom ‘Isabel’s Goblin’ was named).

The Work

The inspiration for David’s work stretches back to a childhood fascination with myths and folklore, and a love of the writings of Tolkein.

All the pieces are cast in bronze, using the ‘lost wax’ process, a method developed by the ancient Egyptians, whereby a new ceramic shell mould is both made and destroyed for each individual piece cast. This is one of the most costly methods of casting but its worth is that the nuance and detail of the original work is preserved in every successive casting.