EDITORIAL � 01892 616103 www.kentnews.co.uk for all the news and sport WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 15, 2009 news I 9
HE shot to fame after an appear-
ance on TV's Dragon's Den with
his sculptures of pop icons.
Now the acclaimed sculptor has paid a trip
to a special school to help visually-impaired
children in a ground-breaking project.
Guy Portelli took pottery classes at Dorton
House School in Seal, near Sevenoaks, and
helped eight pupils create sculptures which
will be displayed next to his own at an exhi-
bition this month.
Mr Portelli, 52, from Tonbridge, made
headlines when he appeared on the BBC's
Dragon's Den show last year and secured
funding from three of the dragons, James
Caan, Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis to dis-
play 18 sculptures of pop icons, ranging from
Jimi Hendrix to The Who and the Spice
Girls, at a show in London.
That breakthrough gave him a global profile
that has brought acclaim and the chance to go
to China next year for three big exhibitions.
His Pop Icons Collection, and some of his
newer work,will be exhibited at Dorton House
from Thursday to Saturday, November 26-28.
But the work of the eight students he has
been guiding at the Royal London Society
for the Blind school will also be displayed at
the In Touch exhibition.
An exclusive charity private viewing of the
exhibition, by invitation only, will take place
on the Thursday, before it is opened to
schools and students on Friday and the gen-
eral public on Saturday from 11am-5pm.
Organisers hope more than 1,000 people
will take in the exhibition during its three-
day stay at the school.
Mr Portelli was approached by members
of the Kent Ferrari Owners Club about giv-
ing classes at Dorton House after they saw
him at a charity event in Tonbridge.
He said:"When I had a meeting at Dorton
House I realised how sculpting and visual-
ly-impaired children have a real synergy.
"They cannot see to do paintings or draw,
but they can feel to do sculpting.I wanted to
work with them to see what they could do."
The artist took five pottery classes at the
school.
He said: "It was very experimental with
the pupils as they started from a totally
different viewpoint. It started from them
selecting a piece of music and wanting to rep-
resent this with a sculpture.
"It was an innovative project as it started
from such a unique standpoint."
Mr Portelli said it moving to see how the
students' other senses have developed more
to compensate for the lack of sight.
His own sculptures use sweets and their
wrappers, which the children could easily
identify using touch.
He said: "They could smell the colours of
sweets, detecting the lime in wine gums to be
green, and used this in their work. If I had
given them clay straight away to start press-
ing and moulding it could have been intimi-
dating, but starting with sweets made it
uplifting before moving on to the clay."
The sculptor, who has been doing something
for Children In Need with a group of children
in south London, which will be shown on
Friday, is hoping Dorton House will keep up
the sculpting classes after the exhibition.
Sculptor's sweet
gesture inspires
blind school kids
By JON COATES
POP CULTURE: Guy Portelli came to fame with his Pop Icon Collection on BBC's Dragon's Den
at
Sparshatts of Kent Ltd
Unit 2
Brookfield Ind Est
Leacon Road
ASHFORD
Kent TN23 4TU
Unit H
Acorn Ind Est
Crayford Road
DARTFORD
Kent DA1 4FL
Unit 10
Eurolink Ind Est
SITTINGBOURNE
Kent ME10 3RN
Longfield Road
TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Kent TN2 3EY
08708 35 36 37
www.sparshatts.co.uk
For
COMMERCIAL
VEHICLES
SERVICING
Affordable Interior Design
to suit your budget
and add value to your home
*When you spend �100 or more on fragrance, skincare or cosmetic
purchases. Terms and conditions apply. Ask in store for details.
FRAGRANCE � SKINCARE � COSMETICS
TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Mount Pleasant Road Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1QT
Tel: 01892 530222 email: tunbridgewells@hoopers.ltd.uk
www.hoopers.ltd.uk
Collect your
PERFUMERY
REWARDS CARD
in store now and receive up to
�70
FREEGIFT VOUCHERS TO SPEND
ANYWHERE IN STORE

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32Page 33Page 34Page 35Page 36Page 37Page 38Page 39Page 40Page 41Page 42Page 43Page 44Page 45Page 46Page 47Page 48Page 49Page 50Page 51Page 52Page 53Page 54Page 55Page 56Page 57Page 58Page 59Page 60Page 61Page 62Page 63Page 64Page 65Page 66Page 67Page 68Page 69Page 70Page 71Page 72Page 73Page 74Page 75Page 76Page 77Page 78Page 79Page 80Page 81Page 82Page 83Page 84Page 85Page 86Page 87Page 88 Produced by PageSuite