Wallpaper Handmade, Italy

Commissioned by Wallpaper* for the Handmade exhibition at Salone del Mobile in Milan, the installation was developed in collaboration with cabinet makers Benchmark and backed by American Hardwood Export Council Europe as a pick and mix articulating the technical and aesthetic qualities of american black cherry.

The installation combines an interest in traditional woodworking techniques and the photographic documentation of silent buildings by Bernd & Hilla Becher and Ole Meyer, creating a functional sculpture within the walls of a gallery.

Meat – A spatial strategy exploring the notion of aedicula, forms the body of an enclosed vertically pronounced space within space, that establishes a lively gathering point in and around the heart of the gallery.

Bone – The structure of the installation is informed by an intention to forgo the use of glue, metal brackets and screws in exchange for wooden joints. It consists of 12 elements set at an angle of 30 degrees to each other creating a closed, almost cylindrical, polygon comprised of 4620 parts.

Each leg of each element consists of doubled framing studs, clasping inclined rails that in turn carry the shelves. The shelves holding the serving trays are joined by mortise and tenon joints and act as barrel hoops allowing the large amount of loose-fit components to act as one structural whole.

Skin – The skin of the installation consists of 528 stacked wooden take-away trays tooled with a purpose made, ball shaped drill to create a soft concavity for serving. Conceived as a transformative process, the installation will by each serving slowly be reduced from a rotunda-like space with casette-walls to an open carcass.