Kieran Purton, 23 years old is a Paint apprentice at Deal Restoration in Kelvedon and a final year apprentice at The Colchester Institute.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO PAINTING CARS?
I had a friend who owned a bodyshop called Autoshack in Woodbridge, Suffolk. I volunteered to help weekends and it all went from there really. I started prepping and painting simple panels and really enjoyed it. I then got into classic restoration and custom paintwork.

WHO HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST INFLUENCERS ON YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
Definitely Jon Kosmoski, founder of House of Kolor custom paint, an icon in the custom painting world who is recognised worldwide as one of the best in the business. I am really interested in everything House of Kolor and regularly follow all related work online. Julian Woodstock, my mentor at the Colchester Institute has been a big influence and I wouldn’t be where I am today without him. Also the painter Dave Girling at Deal Restoration, has taught me a huge amount as well.

WHAT WAS THE IDEA BEHIND YOUR DESIGN?
I wanted to paint a design around the Farécla logo. I didn’t want to do a design and then add the logo in somewhere afterwards. I was originally going to do a combination of airbrush scales and lacework in the four panels but decided that the fans radiating out of the logo would draw attention to the logo more effectively. I custom mixed the silver I used for the fans so that it would change appearance from different viewing angles. I wanted my design to keep getting better as you moved out of the centre so added House of Kolor metal flake onto the outer panels. I incorporated subtle features into my design like curving my pinstripe lines at the front of the bonnet but keeping the lines square at the back. A low rider style bonnet was the main idea.

The bonnet I used was from a Mk1 Caddy because I have always been into Volkswagens and own a 1987 Mk1 Caddy. I actually got the bonnet from VW Heritage, they were kind enough to sponsor me the bonnet and also give me an awesome tour of their HQ!

IF YOUR BONNET WAS THE OVERALL WINNER, HOW WOULD YOU SPEND THE £1,000 CASH PRIZE?
I would spend the money on upgrading my paint collection and equipment. I love House of Kolor paint, it is expensive but I’d love to build up my own collection of House of Kolor paints. I’d also like to buy a new basecoat spray gun and just spend the money to progress further and fuel my love for custom paint! It was Julian Woodstock, my mentor at college who persuaded me to enter. The fact that I am now in the top 5 of the grand final is awesome really.

Julian is a college lecturer at The Colchester Institute

“I am incredibly impressed with what Kieran has done and how he has got on in the competition. He came up with some ideas and discussed them with me to see what I thought would work, and when I have suggested that maybe it wouldn’t work or it wouldn’t be that great he has come up with another idea. We have discussed everything but it is all his idea and execution.

“Off his own back he went to VW Heritage to source the bonnet for the competition and I am impressed in his initiative to do that as well. He is very keen on his classic VWs, and explained to them what he was intending and they gave him the bonnet on condition that if it wasn’t kept by Farecla it goes back to them afterwards so that they can display it in their showroom. So he has really shown initiative, rather than go and get a scrap bonnet from a salvage yard or from here he has gone and got what he wanted.”

Check out our other interviews with this year's Grand Finalists:

• Elliot Campbell
• Agnieszka Szenfeld
• Rhiannon Murfin
• Kieran Purton
• Charlie Clark

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