A HANDYMAN has spent the last three months fitting boilers not for the home, but for the catwalk.

Jon Harris creates “wearable art” by turning old copper water tanks into corsets.

The 47-year-old’s creations will be displayed at Oxford Fashion Week’s lingerie show on Thursday.

Following a successful apprenticeship at the Mini plant when it was still owned by Rover, Jon worked for the Benetton F1 and Renault F1 teams as a composite fabricator, mechanical technician and hydraulic technician.

He last worked with copper in 1983, moving on to carbon fibre after his apprenticeship. Some years ago he began to miss shaping metal and, on discovering a cracked old water tank at a friend’s house while doing plumbing work, he seized the opportunity to try something different.

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After two of his designs created a storm at last November’s Oxford Fashion Week, he was asked to put together a collection, and has since focused all his energies on four new designs for the spring show. Demand on his time meant he gave up some paid work fitting kitchens and bathrooms.

He said: “In the most recent three I have gone for drama. Each one improves the concept. This is all about how you go beyond the simple things.”

The creation process takes around 100 hours. Models come in for a discussion and plaster cast, and return for fittings. Jon said: “It is all depending on the person’s personality and shape. Each time we have to get over the fact that nobody is symmetrical. It is difficult to fit one retrospectively.”

Young model Patricia O’Dwyer has been fitted for a corset with a plunge hinged front and three pull-out pins. She will join runway director Tiffany Saunders, from Witney, who is modelling a bulky piece with a ballerina skirt.

Corsets are not hammered from one piece of metal but contain multiple parts. One of this year’s collection contains 100 pieces of metal. Spare pieces of copper are taken to a scrapyard for money.

The corsets have an inside lining so they are not cold, and lacquered so they do not turn the model green. They are finished in a way that will make them look good under catwalk lights. Jon also hand-cuts the mannequins they stand on.