About Mark
Mark Stoddart is an international designer of unique bronze sculptors who lives in Ayrshire Scotland. He is internationally renowned as one of the most outstanding designer of coffee, dining and conference tables. Each of his sculpture is unique and hand made. One of his coffee tables sits in Scottish Parliament. Another one of his famous tables is the Apollo Lunar Landing Module table that sits in the home of the former US astronaut Buzz Aldrin. His clients include heads of states and celebrities from all over the world.
Mark struggled in school. At the age of 13, he was introverted with very little confidence. He went to a special school in Sussex, England where he received some accommodation which enabled him to develop self-confidence and to demonstrate his unequalled creativity in arts.
In his charity work, Mark met Nancy and Phyllis who are the founders of Dyslexia Organization, Kenya. Mark was first inspired to add a hippo table to his design after visiting Kenya more than thirty years ago. He designed a hippo coffee table which was auctioned to raise money to celebrate the fifth birthday of Fiona, a hippo in Cincinnati Zoo that defiled all the odds and survived despite being born six weeks prematurely weighing only 13 kilograms. Mark gave out 15% of the proceeds which was slightly over $ 15000 and added another $ 9600 to make the total to $25000. The money was used to start the construction of the first neurodiverse school in Kenya. Mark continued supporting the construction of the school until it was finished.
Mark decided to support Rare Gem Talent School to construct a new school after he saw the old school which was sitting on a rented piece of land. The school was congested with classes, kitchen, dormitories and an office in a half acre piece of land. The rent was also very high which raised the cost of running the school.
Mark believes that if the relevant accommodations are given to students who have dyslexia, they can discover their own talents. Mark continues to champion for the rights of people with dyslexia. He is the ambassador of Rare Gem Talent School, the first Neurodiverse School in East and Central Africa. In addition, Mark has sponsored training for our teachers to learn structured Literacy which is an intervention for struggling readers. He facilitated Katrin McElderry (curriculum & learning specialist, M.A Teaching, Tutoring & Int’l workshops) from The Odyssey School Maryland, USA to come and train our teachers in Kenya during summer, 2023.
He has made it his mission to use his talent to ensure that other people with dyslexia discover, nourish and nurture their talents to maturity. His life is a testament to the fact that with accommodation, every student can succeed in life.