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He experienced a turbulent childhood in the care system which, he reflected later, built a certain resilience of character and perseverance to learn new skills, traits he maintained throughout the rest of his life.  Ron’s story is also deeply embedded in east London and the lived  experiences of working class and immigrant communities seeking to forge creative careers outside of the mainstream or  elite artistic circles.\n\nFrom the age of 14 he was an apprentice engineer and toolmaker in London and developed the skills that would shape and inform his later sculptural and design practice. During the second World War, he volunteered for national service and worked for two years in the coal mines of Sheffield and Nottinghamshire. After the War he returned to Hackney and became a well-known local  figure and was cherished for his exuberant personality and distinctive style, acquiring  the nickname 'Flash' . He began making clothing for his wife, Betty Annie Becket, and sold his own designs for shirts and flares from his Dalston market stall called the 'Waste'.\n\r\nRon developed an interest in Flamenco and installed two studios in his house: one for his visual artwork, the other for flamenco study and teaching. In the mid-1960s he began working with clay and mixing with artistic circles across London, at first producing small moulded ceramic decorative objects. He liked to experiment with different materials and  made sculptural works from clay, metal, fibreglass, wood and found materials. He undertook an evening class at the Sir John Cass College of Art to broaden his knowledge of making moulds and at the age of 40 had his first solo show at the Whibley Gallery,  London.\n\r\nRon also designed and made furniture for his own use and, gradually, his semi-detached Victorian home on Malvern Road in Hackney became a ‘total’ artwork, featuring sculptural reliefs and decorative tile panels in his living room, kitchen and bathroom. The monumental four-poster canopy bed he designed for an exhibition at Temple Lodge in the 1970s was embellished with 3,582 biscuit-fired ceramic tiles, each hand-inscribed by Hitchins with Aztec-inspired, abstract designs. This miniature replica of the bed was made for his cat, Kipper. \n\nRon died in 2019 aged 93.\r\n","physicalDescription":"A four poster cat bed made of wood and decorated with painted ceramic tiles. 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