Trevor Smith may work as a council officer in the industrial town of Portland, Victoria, but in nearly every other waking hour he is crocheting.

The cultural collections officer for Glenelg Shire was taught to crochet by his mother as a child — lessons that formed the foundation of his art practice as an adult.

A fast worker, Smith has made 150 colourful, comedic soft-sculpture objects and sculptural tea cosies in the past 10 months.

The speed of his growing body of work is only matched by the rate of his success as a crochet artist.

A solo show of his major works will be on display in a Sydney gallery in December.

Brightly coloured food from the 1960s and 1970s was an inspiration ( Supplied: Trevor Smith )

Smith first exhibited at the Michael Reid Gallery as part of a group show with Kristen Fredericks, who crochets penises, and Chilli Philly, who makes oversized knitted food-themed hats.

His show will have a distinctly retro feel, harking back to the domestic world of the 1950s.

It was a time of invention, when science entered the modern home and women were urged to adopt new technologies that promised to increase their leisure time.

"What I've created is a collection of appliances, food, household items and six tea-cosies, and it sort of has a 50s, 60s, 70s retro domestic theme," Smith said.

"It was sort of the space age and atomic age and a lot of the things did have a space-age design about them."

Growing up in the 'atomic age'

Trevor Smith grew up in an era of bright orange appliances. ( Supplied: Trevor Smith )

For Smith, the theme of his latest work stems from a mix of nostalgia and humour.

Much of his inspiration came from searching old recipe photos on the internet — recipes that would have appeared in the 1970s Woman's Day or Women's Weekly dinner party cookbooks, with most involving gelatine.

"You know, the brightly coloured hideous food of the 60s and 70s — a leg of ham with the pineapple rings on it and pavlova and crown roast and vegetables," Smith said.

"Everything I do I suppose is comedy. I guess I am saying 'Remember these? Here's one I've crocheted'."

Smith is inspired by the 1970s Women's Weekly dinner party cookbooks. ( Supplied: Trevor Smith )

Beyond the gag, Smith felt a strong connection to his rural upbringing during the 'atomic age'.

"It's the period I grew up in, the period of lime green kitchens and bright orange appliances, something that I'm familiar with, something I've always had an interest in," he said.

"There's some things we used then, I suppose they've been rebirthed in other forms.

"I've got a record player, a cassette player, a couple of Crock-pots, vitamisers, food processors, a Mixmaster."

Smith says many of the household objects were considered luxury items in rural Australia. ( Supplied: Trevor Smith )

Many of the things Smith was surrounded by in his childhood were considered luxury items for many rural Australian households.

"We were in a regional rural area. It was a time where growing up we didn't get 240 volts until about 1968, so we operated from a generator," he said.

"Our electrical appliances were incredibly basic. Our first television, we had a transformer that sat next to it that was nearly as big as the television."

Rather than feeling hard done by, Smith sees the funny side of his childhood memories.

"I can remember this brief period where Mum did have a lot of appliances when her friends or relatives got the power before we did, so they gave mum all the 32-volt things," Smith said.

"I can remember she did have a vitamiser there for a very short period of time that was a hand-me-down from someone else who had already got the power."

Using intuition rather than patterns

The crocheted Mixmaster was the most technically difficult piece to produce. ( Supplied: Trevor Smith )

When pushed to pick a favourite, Smith noted the two most technically challenging pieces in his upcoming exhibition.

"There are some that are maybe more successful than others. I've made a sewing machine and I am quite pleased with the outcome of that," he said.

"The Mixmaster was most technically difficult. It has a crochet bowl that has wire in it to stiffen it, and the beaters are made of wire that are wrapped and crocheted in wool."

Working in an intuitive manner, Smith does not sketch or map out the process.

Instead, he builds the structure of a piece out of various foams then crochets over it.

"There's no pattern. I couldn't make the same thing exactly the same twice," he said.

A crocheted Dame Edna is part of a collection of characters that includes Frida Kahlo and Captain Cook. ( Supplied: Trevor Smith )

With a number of exhibitions coming up, he has produced a series of crocheted animal tea cosies and a collection of characters including Dame Edna, Captain Cook and Frida Kahlo.

Astonishingly, Smith has not taken time off from his full-time job in order to produce all this.

"There was a period back in March, April, May when I was crocheting about 50-60 hours a week," Smith said.

There was a nine-week period where I basically never left the house apart from going to work.

"I might be mad but it keeps me sane."