A Biography
How it all began...
Great storytelling has always fascinated Crystal. As a child, she used to perform other people’s stories on her violin and toured the world doing so. By university; where she studied English Literature, storytelling became a deep analysis of narrative structure, craft, critical thinking and philosophy. A brief stint at BBC World Service put her on the front line of historical storytelling and exposure to unpublishable source material showed Crystal the true human cost of Britain’s war in Iraq. A return to academics and a career in consumer research followed and Crystal moved to Melbourne then New York with work projects studying culture and human behaviour enabling explorations across Africa, Asia and South America. Always with sketchbook, camera, or notebook in hand.
Disaster Strikes
While working, she took to various post grad studies in anthropology, ethnography, psychology and semiotics, and by 2010, she’d managed to forge a career focused on the visual arts, brand strategy, and effective communication. She flourished in applying human insights to enable positive brand storytelling, however, in 2014, while working in Turkey as a Director for a London agency, without any warning, disaster struck. Crystal suffered a severe spinal injury. It left her unable to walk and in extreme pain. For a year she was trapped in her 1st floor flat under 24hr care with little hope for her future. The only outings were to hospital to be poked and prodded by specialists. She began to feel like a petri dish not in control of her own narrative, under constant surveillance and in constant pain.
Post surgery, she was no longer able to play her violin so Crystal returned to sketching for solace. She imagined strange faces that could convey a deep intent in a momentary glance. Choosing to use pen and ink without pencil guidelines felt especially representative to the uncertainty she felt. Body proportions would inevitably be imperfect but would have to be embraced. For her, it was more important that a fleeting human intent could be captured.
Today
Today, Crystal lives in Kent with her husband, a writer, their dog and several chickens. Although she still suffers from chronic pain, she is CEO of a global brand strategy company she founded in 2017 called Kingfisher Consultancy who focus on delivering marketing strategy and human insights for positive change, and beyond being an active creative and exhibiting Artist, she's also Trustee of Common and Kind, a music charity that connects people from all walks of life, helping those with disabilities, refugees and asylum seekers; connecting children and adult choirs around the world. She sings with the Canterbury Ladies Choir and is a voice actor, curator, and composer in her spare time.
In 2022, The Arts Society Sandwich recognised Crystal's contribution to The Arts at their inaugural Summer Art Exhibition and later that year Crystal's work was featured at the Sandwich Arts Week Festival. In 2023 The Arts Society Magazine featured her work and in 2024, she co-curated The Arts Society Sandwich Summer Exhibition. She was accepted to study for an MA in Fine Arts at UCA Canterbury and continues to do so while curating nationally and exhibiting internationally, including at COP29 (The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference).
She continues to create as a means of exploring narrative, cultural change, and cognitive bias and as you will see, much of her work explores the power of nature against the fragility of humanity.