Stephen kicked off his professional working life with a Bachelor of Design – Industrial Design degree and then worked for the following decade designing Furniture in Melbourne, Australia.  A dietary change two years ago (to a low fat, raw vegan diet), led to a complete change of priorities, followed by a change of lifestyle and career.  On leaving the furniture design industry, Stephen launched himself into his new passion; permaculture, by completing a 72 hour Permaculture Design Certificate with the renowned Geoff Lawton at the Permaculture Research Institute in NSW, Australia.  Witnessing Geoff’s vast knowledge, Stephen was inspired to further his education with Geoff by becoming an intern and completing the first 10 week Permaculture Internship run by the Institute.  Within this internship he completed an Earthworks Course, Project Aid Workers Course, Permaculture Design Certificate Teacher Training Course, and Compost Soil Biology Natural Fertilizer Course.  In addition to this were many hours of classes and a lot of hands on experience on the farm.  He was also involved in several permaculture design projects that Geoff had been requested to do, which involved client consultation, property design, and frequent site visits.

Since then, Stephen has worked on farms in Australia, Hawaii, and is currently working in Thailand building up his knowledge base.  His long term experience in design has been invaluable as the techniques used are universal across all design fields.  Stephens’ combined passion for design and permaculture allow him to teach the frame work of the permaculture design system with great clarity which then enables the students to go out into the field and build their knowledge to populate that frame work.