Philip Aitken's sculpture and design is characterized by an ideology that celebrates both an aesthetic and conceptual simplicity and minimalism in the treatment of form. Aitken’s aesthetics seeks to “succeed in the creation of a really good form, rather than trying to tell a story”. Predominantly working with timber, the artist brings together the processes of building, constructing and assembling with the expressive qualities of materials to create non-figurative works that combine the notions of compositional simplicity and visual complexity. Aitken is an academic staff member with the CPIT School of Art and Design and the School of Architectural Studies, Christchurch where he teaches 3D/sculpture and furniture design.