MOURNERS signed a coffin made out of a recycled material as they said a final farewell to the artist known as “Tagzee”, who died suddenly just before Christmas.

Tagzee, whose real name was Stuart Williamson, gave away the profits from his artwork to charity, telling friends that he was “wealthy enough inside”.

The 58-year-old, who lived in Oseney Crescent, Kentish Town, died unexpectedly last month. His family say they do not know why, and a coroner’s inquest is yet to be held. 

Locally, he was known as a handyman who friends and neighbours came to rely on, and was a family man who doted on five children and 12 grandchildren.

Mr Williamson was born in Glasgow and enlisted in the Scots Guards but decided the army was not for him and moved to London in 1976, where he worked in a carpentry and builders’ supply shop in Archway.

His list of inventions included a window box that contained a fire escape rope ladder, which could be used by people living in upper storeys in an emergency. He approached a firm to manufacture it but was told it would never sell. Instead, he told relatives, they took his idea and it sold thousands. He gained nothing, having failed to patent the design.

Another of his inventions, which also became widely manufactured, was a rubber duck attached to a plug that stopped homes from flooding. The duck pulls the plug from the plug hole when the water reaches a certain height to stop baths from over-flowing. 

Mr Williamson began his life in art, however, when his oldest son, James, bought him a book with street artist Banksy’s work inside as a Christmas present. He flicked through the celebrated graffiti artist’s work and told his son he could do better. 

He decided to find an audience in a unique way. Working under the name Tagzee, Mr Williamson would leave his work in public places for people to discover, with an internet address on the reverse so they could find out more if they liked it. He would hang paintings in trees, leave them in public toilets, and he even created a series that on one side looked like parking tickets and would be left under car windscreen wipers – only for the angry recipient to turn it over and discover an original piece of art. 

He sold pieces online, donating the profits to charities close to his heart – those involved with homelessness and the illness muscular dystrophy. 

St Paul’s Cathedral and The Royal Academy commissioned works, as did the auction house Christies, who have a piece on display at their head office created by a process Mr Williamson invented that made cardboard look like metal.

In recent years he used his talents as an art teacher for homeless charity SHP, running workshops and teaching art skills. 

An exhibition of Mr Williamson’s work and a celebration of his life is planned to take place throughout February at The Outpost, 546 Holloway Road, N7 6JP,