1996, Peter Markey

Happy Clapper, designed by Peter Markey

While I was in San Francisco, browsing in a shop, I came across some funny wooden kits to make automata. They were made in the U.K.

As luck would have it, the British Crafts Council had a booth at the San Francisco Gift Fair and I asked there how I could contact the artist.

Back in Paris, a couple of weeks later, I received a letter from the Crafts Council with Peter Markey's name, address and telephone number. I phoned Peter and he told me that he only made one-off pieces and limited editions. For the production work (the kits), he told me to call his neighbor, Alison Williamson.

Alison and her husband had set up a little business to make and sell Peter's wooden models in kits.

Alison did not have innate business skills (to say the least)! It was a challenge to get my first order. But once we finally got rolling, the Happy Clapper and the Kissing Machine practically became Tumbleweed trademarks! We sold the automata both in kits and already made up.

Kissing Machine (Machine à bisous)

Wave Machine

Later on I started working with Peter Markey himself, buying some of his handmade, one-off pieces. These were made of wood, had simple mechanisms and were painted in bright colors. They were pure poetry!

He also had a collection of paper automata kits, in the same style as his wooden models.

Peter was one of the precursors and leading figures of the contemporary automata movement in Great Britain. He was also a prolific painter. He passed away in 2017 at age 86.