Probably the first thing to catch your attention is the name – Karim Yasamee – even the computer queries it.

Ethnic origins? My mother is English and my father, Pakistani.

I was born in Wimbledon, south London in 1957.

The name Yasamee, I am reliably informed, comes from the Persian and means Jasmine; from which comes the name Yasmin.

Throughout my childhood I enjoyed drawing and painting and at school was considered to show ability. However I never gave serious thought to art as a possible vocation; though with the wisdom of hindsight I now see that it suited my temperament and explained the somewhat restless relationship I had with academia.

Still, I took a B.A. Hons. Degree in History from the University of East Anglia. Thereafter followed 10 years varied experience, during which time I became a Buddhist, paid two extended visits to Greece, engaged in writing and did various part-time jobs.

Then in 1990 quite by chance I was offered a place on a stained glass course. As well as enjoying the course, it gave me the basis of a grounding in the essential stained glass skills; which is to say that, when I describe myself as a stained glass artist, it means that I do all my own work. I draw up the design, cut the glass, do any glass painting that is required, make up the panel and do the fitting.