Side Tool:
A side table which celebrates, and is a homage to, the very connections that bring together the tools us designers and makers use to forge ideas; an endeavour into the application of a tool wedge within the structural makeup of furniture.
With an evolutionary journey spanning 3.3 million years, from a simple flint stone to a wooden handle and steel head, I ask myself, can the next evolution of a hammer be in the form of furniture? After all, furniture is a tool to make a house a home.
From wedge tests to prototyping several sheet steel side tables, each time adjusting the steel wedge’s depth, thickness and form until a secure joint was achieved. As a result, two crossed steel wedges are hydraulically pressed into the tables ash ‘handle’ at either end, forcing the wood to wedge against the hole located in the top and base. The cast iron’s convex shape is revealed on the top of the table, drawing the audience’s eyes towards the joining detail, viewed through glass like an artefact on display.
Mass:
Creating an identity for weights that can be valued and cherished in a home environment while complimenting, but also giving justice to, the furniture they often lay next to.
As more individuals take working out from the gym to the living space, it is important that weights act like the furniture they are becoming; a home is not a gym. Just like a beautiful chair or table, I believe strength gaining archetypes can be designed in such a way that gives them value beyond their functional requirements.
Three materials make up the basis of my kettlebells, each signifying a pinnacle moment in strength graining’s historical materiality; from Greek stone dumbbells, Indian wooden clubs and Victorian globe barbells, the materials I chose do not only represent a rich past which is rarely expressed in modern day equipment, but also a substantial difference in mass through the materials used- 24kg Cast Iron, 12kg Marble and 6kg Oak.
A passion to redefine archetypes and enrich people’s lives with beautiful, functional, and made to last objects comes from my early desire to sculpt materials. The fine line between Art, Sculpture and Design is something I am constantly challenging, and in many cases intrigued to blur.