Living Wood, Not Wooden Living

When is a wooden table not a wooden table?

When it's a Marigold.

"Wooden Table", Peter Marigold, Libby Sellers Gallery

That's the designer Peter Marigold, and I was lucky enough to get an insight into his work as he spoke with us at Collect.

Marigold is a resourceful designer-maker, utilising the materials and ideas that come to him through his immediate environment. Often exploring wood in his designs he harvests the fallen branches from his neighbourhood of Hampstead Heath to use for timber. Having this local resource to hand has encouraged him to explore it's properties in many ways.

The textures of Peter Marigold's Wooden Tables, created using a repeated grain surface from a sample of wood.

Not only does he use wood to make many of his designs, it is through experiments with this organic material  that he also brings the qualities he discovers into other very different substances.

"Characteristically, these are not straightforward forms, but instead have been created using wood rather than being made of wood. They therefore reference wood as an active verb rather than a monumental noun; the resulting forms highly animated and not ‘wooden’ at all." Libby Sellers Gallery

By translating what he sees in the formation and degrading of wood into something very hard and processed like metal he is breathing life into a manufactured material.

Through playing with our expectations of what materials look and feel like, it makes us want to engage with these objects, question them, pick them up, touch and interact. 

One of Marigold's "Wooden Forms" where he uses wax to capture the surface texture of wood. The fragmented, fragile looking shapes are then cast in materials like iron.

It is the natural wearing-out of the objects we use in our lives that gives him great pleasure. Every knock, scuff and dent that marks a surface is like a tree ring documenting their lifespan.

This also shows them to be of a greater quality, worth keeping even with their lived-in "damage" teaching us the patience to invest in an object and forming a bond with our environment.

"Bleed" series of locally ebonised cedar cabinets by Peter Marigold showing at Collect 2015 with Sarah Myerscough gallery.

At this year's Collect, Marigold was showing his cedar cabinets stained from the reaction with steel nails holding them together. Entitled "Bleed", the beautiful black streaks became the most prominent feature of these sturdy cabinets. 

"Man builds things up, and then nature begins a slow steady process of taking them down again. A normal response to this effect might be despair like King Canute trying to hold back the sea, but I see beauty," said Marigold.

A close up of the inky patterns made by the steel nails reacting with the wood in Peter Marigold's "Bleed" Cabinets

Rather than fighting nature in preventing this unpredictable marking, these displayed the reaction of the untreated metal with the tannin in the wood showing a truth to the materials.

I loved seeing his way the designer was letting go of the piece they had made, allowing nature to take it's course to create a unique, naturally beautiful object. It reminded me of the way mascara can run down a perfectly made-up face showing an overwhelming emotion, too much sadness to mask and hide or a joy too powerful to hold inside.

For more information of Peter Marigold's projects visit his site here.

There are lots of great Artist's talks still going on at Collect on from 9th - 11th May 2015-check them out HERE

Designpanoptikum - Surrealist Museum For Industrial Objects

The truth of objects: is it weirder than science fiction?

 Russian photographer Vlad Korneev's sculptures provide an eerie environment throughout the 10 rooms of his Designaoptikum allowing us two options: The first is as an art gallery casually soaking up the visual ensembles, the second is to use your brain by thinking and learning about the collection of objects housed within.

Some insight curiosity, some are unsettling but all have at least once provided some function. As intimidating as some of these look, there are no weapons in the museum, it is up to our own imaginations how we perceive them, and the structures Vlad has created make them unfamiliar, providing them with a new identity. He describes it as similar to Frankenstein's laboratory. To give you an idea, imagine of what kind of companions you might construct in your solitary survival of an apocalyptic event trapped inside the basement of an old department store.  

Many of the scariest looking devices were actually designed and built to help people, from learning how to resuscitate an accident victim to actually having a machine like an iron lung to breath for you for your entire life. As Vlad had said there are no objects intended to cause pain or destruction in his museum, but the huge metal box he had as an example of the treatment for polio was made after the First World War when Germany had nothing other than weapons so an iron lung was made from submarine parts.

During this visit to Berlin I also found myself inside the Museum of Medical History. This is not for the faint-hearted or those with a weak stomach (there were jars containing both of these) and I found myself in need of a stiff drink and some fresh air from my encounter here. There were no gimmicks or sensational presentations, just human specimens, historical facts and the real-life stories of individuals thus having a deeper effect than any Oscar nominated weepie or late night teen gore-fest. And the largest display of gallstones you will ever see.

Although unable to take photos in the Medical Museum I found the text from the introduction significant for both collections so I have included it here with  my images from the Designpanoptokum. 

"Objects generate effects. They may be just standing in a room, be obstacles in the way or displayed in a showcase. Their sheer presence, their explicit 'thingness" evokes feelings in the viewer. If we want to learn more about the objects, we usually need additional information about their inventors, producers, users, applied materials, age or distribution. The stories deriving from them may be manifold.  Frequently, however these stories remain undetected or undiscovered."

"Sometimes the objects fall into oblivion, lying in the dark corners of a museum's depot. The objects do not grant the curators a consultation hour. Nevertheless, we could interact with them further. They are sharp, colourful, fragile, pretty to look at, common, unique, useful, used, or unwieldy. "

"For a long time, only the respective museum curators were interested in these stories. To follow their own research and interests they developed an individual 'thing' expertise. Other people, however, would be able to tell quite different stories. Partly because of this, more and more researchers beyond the museum world have  turned to historical objects in recent times. They ask: what is our relationship with these things? What meaning do they have in our culture?" 

Here's the Designpanoptikum  Museum if you want to see it all for yourself! Torstraße 201, 10115 Berlin, Germany

The Minister Of Chance

 "...excellent... gripping." The Guardian "    ... a masterclass in mythos building..."Starburst    "...compelling drama..." Elaine Cameron, Producer, Sherlock    "...terrific... wonderful..." Warren Ellis

                                                                  Check out the WEBSITE & FACEBOOK PAGE

SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED TO BE PART OF THIS FILM!!! If you haven't checked out the first series of podcasts, download them now while you can - they're completely free!  Written by Dan Freeman the amazing cast of Julian Wadham, Lauren Crace, Jenny Agutter, Jed Brophy, Paul Darrow, Philip Glenister, Beth Goddard, Tamsin Greig, Peter Guinness, Sylvester McCoy & Paul McGann. which includes not one, but TWO DR. WHOS and stars from The Hobbit! I first listened to them in wintertime when I was in a very small and rather freezing workshop, welcome escapism to accompany the busy days and nights making and even better with a huge steaming mug of something warm (tea, coffee...gluhwein, it was a VERY cold winter). 

I have been designing the jewellery for the film, an unusual task as the technology varies with the different countries and the planets which have developed in different ways. The mixture of space rockets and glorious countryside is inspired by our amazing home of Cheshire and the imagination sparked by the wonders of the universe. If you have ever been on the train past Jodrell Bank, seeing the massive Lovell Telescope in the middle of rolling stretches of green gives you an idea.  

Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank

"We have cast members in common with the Lord of The Rings and Hobbit - this gave us the idea to follow New Zealand's lead. Instead of going to Hollywood, director Peter Jackson's team brought the production home, wherever possible using and promoting local talent."

Beeston Castle

Growing up in Cheshire I draw on my experiences there as inspiration for my work. Surrounded by castles, crumbling ruins, exploring breathtaking caves and hills and the remnants of Roman Civilisation gave me the thirst for discovering and enjoying my surroundings. Being asked to join the Cheshire-centric team now dubbed as "Chanceshire" is a real honour, and I'm excited to produce some spectacular pieces that will become part of the world within this film.

Caves at Beeston, near where I grew up.

The Podcasts have already collected rave industry and fan reviews for its first season, along with nominations from the BBC and the USA Parsec Awards.

Here is some more info from The Ministry of Chance Website:

"The Minister of Chance began life as a sonic movie - a Sci-Fi/Fantasy story created using film technique but told with sound alone.

It is the first of its kind - funded entirely by donations from a vocal community of supporters. The first season is entirely FREE to download from this site or from iTunes.

And now the Sonic Movie goes to Feature! We're in production turning the acclaimed series to motion picture, filming in the North West of England.  Find out how you can be involved here."

Gray Magazine

Really excited to be featured in the latest issue of Gray Magazine! 

 "A reflection of the Pacific Northwest's vibrant design + architecture scene. GRAY is a print and digital magazine filled with resources, engaging features, and interviews covering architecture, landscape, interior design, industrial design, décor and fashion—all things that are imagined, made or available in the Pacific Northwest."

This issue is inspired by contrasts and duality, with the content literally halved into two sections so that in the middle you flip the mag round to read the rest!

I've always been into turning convention on it's head, and two of my Hewn rings feature in this middle two page spread where it flips! Check it out below, a black and a white Hewn ring available at Craft & Culture or directly from me made in your size. Just email me for details on how to have your bespoke ring made to your preference! 

Here's the online version for you to read for yourself! This issue has some interesting write ups on designers with split careers, which is becoming even more common as people take a sudden change in their path or bring polar opposites together so that they feed the different needs in their life. Check out the gorgeous cutting edge objects to window shop for some inspiration!