A childhood spent in Africa taught Matthew Houlding the value of recycling -- so much so that he has turned it into an art. He spoke to JENNY SCOTT. . .

THERE'S a dream home made out of Burger King boxes and a water tower constructed from a salt shaker. The extensive, beautifully landscaped grounds, fashioned from a kitchen worktop, contain swaying palm trees and sunken swimming pools which, in a previous incarnation, were polystyrene chip trays.

Welcome to Matthew Houlding's world of recyclable real estate where, although the miniature scale of his models means living space is somewhat cramped, his 10-inch tall sculptures of idyllic abodes have won him growing recognition on the art scene where he now stands to land the £10,000 Comme Ca prize.

The imaginative, small-scale appeal of Matthew's work is what fascinates many visitors to the Comme Ca art gallery in Manchester, where his shortlisted work Exclusive Waterfront Development Opportunity is currently on display.

Yet Matthew, 36, also intends his pieces to function as an ironic comment on the aspirations of society.

He explained: "Some of my work is tongue-in-cheek. I quite like the idea of using packaging in a way that indicates a particular lifestyle for people.

"That's what I play with in my work -- the search for very idyllic spaces and places."

Matthew's studio, near his home in Todmorden, is crammed full of cereal boxes, Kentucky Fried Chicken packs and wine carriers which all serve as building material in his constructions.

He said: "I find things and think, 'I could probably do something with that'. Sometimes it's glaringly obvious what I'm going to do with it, but not always. I find it unbelievable the design that goes into some of these things we just throw away. I try to look at the relationship between packaging and architecture in my work."

Matthew attributes his fascination with recycling everyday objects to his African upbringing. He said: "I grew up in Tanzania and Kenya, where my parents worked. It was a very different sort of upbringing.

"What you didn't have, you invented. I grew up in an area where people would just fashion things out of whatever they found.

"There was that sort of reusage of everything and nothing was thrown away."

Matthew was sent to an English boarding school at Pocklington where his art classes were very design-orientated, before he took a silversmithing degree at Loughborough College of Art and Design.

"I've always been interested in making things," he explained, "And that's still the case today.

"This term art is a funny one. There's a side of the art world I would rather not get involved with. A lot of people call me a sculptor, but I don't know if I am."

After art school Matthew returned to the North to stay with a friend and found work as a gardener for Rossendale Council's parks department.

He then expanded his repertoire of practical skills by taking up welding for a structural engineering company in Halifax.

However, he insisted: "All this time I was still trying to construct my work and getting involved in the odd art show here and there.

"But a lot of the jobs I did influenced my work and helped me work out what I wanted to do."

He also spent some time travelling and even made a return trip to Africa five years ago.

He said: "That rekindled a lot of things. It was quite instrumental in changing my work.

"A lot of my inspiration for these idylls I make goes back to growing up as a kid in Tanzania.

"Tourism development reached a certain point there before the country cut itself off from the rest of the world and the tourism thing fell away.

"I used to go to these hotels that were completely empty developments. It was quite nice to experience these things without thousands of people there."

Upon his return to the UK Matthew found recognition for his work was slowly beginning to grow.

He said: "Over the past year, things have started to happen a little bit more.

"I got into an open exhibition called the Oriel Mostyn show then, in the same year, I got selected for a four-person show in Liverpool at The Bluecoat Arts Centre."

Since then, Matthew has been named as one of five shortlisted artists in the Comme Ca prize. The winner will be named on October 8.

He said: "I'm not building up my hopes, but I think I stand as good a chance of winning as anybody. I've reached a certain point with my work where I feel very happy with it.

"A lot of people have a certain strategy about the way they approach their career, but I have always stayed on the edge a bit. I've just followed my own thing."

Art fans can catch Matthew's exhibit Exclusive Waterfront Development Opportunity at the Comme Ca Art Gallery, on Worsley Street, Manchester, until October.

Matthew said: "The work shows this place that was industrial, but then people have moved in to create something of their own.

"I've had a really good response about it from people. I think there's something about models that play with the imagination. They allow you to do something fantastic."