A man from West Drayton who was on the brink of ending his life after becoming blind has been able to channel his talents in an unexpected way.
Colin Hoppe, now aged 59, has been a sculptor and potter for more than a decade, with his work being celebrated in galleries in Mayfair and Kensington and in public comissions.
Despite having no sight, Colin is able to create grand works of art, some even life-size, with incredible detail.
But don't call him an "artist". Colin lacks any pretence about his work, despite having an unmistakable creative flair. Before losing his sight he had worked as a chef for more than 20 years, ending up by creating spectacular dishes at GlaxoSmithKline in Brentford.
But Colin was already losing his sight and he knew where it was leading. Like his brothers, he had a rare genetic condition known as retina pigmentosa, which meant he slowly lost sight in both eyes.
He had to quit his job as a chef for health and safety reasons and he soon fell into a spiral of self-pity and doubt.
"I was being a pillock," he reflects with typical candour. "It was a selfish thing to even contemplate doing."
It was at this point that Colin first got acquainted with pottery after attending a class at a local community centre. It seems he then found his medium and grew to love the hobby, using it to expel his deepest and darkest thoughts into a physical form.
"I started expressing things that people no longer mentioned, not for masses of money, just a way of getting this crap out of my head," he says.
"Sometimes you would just feel better going in there, smacking the clay around and beating it up. It released my frustrations and I could sleep well at night."
However, just as Colin was getting used to the medium the club was due to shut down. Colin ended up setting up his own club for the visually impaired, although it was open to everyone.
Now he has found his "amigos" and he spends time making art with friends Brian Duffy and Gary Boatman, each battling their own illnesses.
"I try to open the gardens up once a year to the public so they can experience it. It's sort of like my oasis really, it's not much but I think it's nice for people to see our work," he says.
"Many of my pieces don't have faces. If I wanted them to have faces they would but you see I'm blind, so I don't really see faces I just see through that to the real people.
"I can see beyond that sort of thing so that's why my pieces tend not to have faces either."
Losing one's sight can be beyond traumatic, and despite coming close to "ending it", Colin has said that he is now happy and content.
"All I want is for my life with Jo to be happy and healthy, anything else is a bonus," he says.
"I have a lovely wife and a lovely son and daughter. If I had sight I'd like to see my daughter married".
He hastily adds: "Oh, and my motorbike. I used to love riding motorbikes and I'd love to ride a Harley again".
