'I live half the year in Geneva, Switzerland, the other half in Palm Beach, Florida [in the United States]. When I'm at home in either city, I wake up around 7am. I don't set an alarm, which is one of the luxuries of being an artist. The first thing that usually comes to my mind is that there has to be one luckiest guy on Earth, and it just happens to be me.
Martha - my wife of 10 years - wakes up and we tell each other about the dreams we had in the night and discuss our plans for the day. No matter where I wake up, a great breakfast and an excellent espresso are an important ritual. Then I start calling clients, fabricators and collaborators around the world - the nitty gritty stuff.
Currently, the majority of my commissions come from the mainland and Hong Kong. Fortunately, most of my larger kinetic sculptures are also fabricated here. I really enjoy my work with the Chinese fabricators. They are highly motivated and the quality is excellent. Aside from the price difference to the west, the proximity to the installation sites also minimises shipping, insurance and time delays.
The appreciation of contemporary art and artists is much greater in China than in the US or Europe. I was invited to give speeches at Tsinghua University and Peking University. The students were so much more excited about kinetic art and making their own mark in the contemporary art world. In the west, there is not that level of discovery and excitement. There is a whole body of knowledge in Europe but the focus is on the past.
My formal training is in business but I have always had notebooks full of sculpture designs and ideas. At Wharton School in the US, where I got my masters degree in business, one of the exercises we did was to write a life plan. At the time I didn't take it so seriously but, as it turns out, my life has exactly followed this plan I wrote so long ago - which was to be successful in business so I could have the time to finally pursue my art. More than money, time is really the biggest luxury one can have.
After school, I started a real estate company and developed it. I still have that group of companies, but I have a wonderful management team that runs it much better than I did. So I get to follow my passion. I started making small sculptures 20 years ago. About eight years ago, I started making large ones. So this is a second career in a way.