The sculptures created by Niki de St Phalle (1930-2002) have always intrigued me – the volume, colour and their lightheartedness. Apart from everything else that can be said about them, I think they are glorious fun! An especially beautiful example is the Stravinsky Fountain which she made in 1983 in collaboration with Yves Tinguely. Located next to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, it was commissioned by Pierre Boulez as a visual representation of Igor Stravinsky’s Ballet The Firebird. I have visited it many times, the last time in 2017 when to my great dismay I found it rather decrepit. Luckily, it was restored in 2023. Videos and images of this fountain can be found online. I love that combination of rigid black steel and the soft, brightly coloured shapes of her figures and, of course, these being kinetic sculptures, the movement. Most of her sculptures are executed in Fiberglass and Polyester Resin, not a medium with which I am keen to work. While she had a great team of skilled co-workers, Niki de St Phalle did a lot of the work herself and, I believe, damaged her lungs in the process. I very much dread the smell of chemicals and find wearing masks suffocating and restricting. But clearly, especially when sanding surfaces, masks are not to be disregarded. In the late 1990s, I produced some water features and fountains which were somewhat sparked off by St Phalle’s sculptures in general and the Stravinsky Fountain in particular. Instead of using Fibreglass, I used Ferro Cement as an alternative material and also incorporated some shells and a few bits of tiles here and there, applying my own version of the mosaic technique.