Two Make

Back in the Autumn of 2015 I embarked on a project that was different to anything I had tried before and took me a little out of my comfort zone. It was a collaboration project entitled 'Two Make' which brought together 10 pairs of makers to explore new ideas and make new work together. Having never collaborated before it was an interesting concept to me but an exciting opportunity to be able to go back to the drawing board and start afresh on some new ideas.

I was to be working with Kristian Pettifor, a contemporary furniture designer maker who contacted me after being drawn to the pattern and colour in my lighting range. After chatting on the phone about what we both wanted to get out of the project and lots of emails later we put in our application.

The project is curated in partnership with the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen, the University of Exeter and is funded by the Arts Council, which meant that we could all devote some time to just trying out new ideas rather than worrying about getting to the finished outcome.

Our first meeting in my studio went well as it quickly became clear that we were both drawn to the same sort of images, which we were both pretty relieved to find out!

Probably the most important concept and our starting point was using texture and light together. We wanted to figure out how to mix our two materials - paper and wood - in a design that would use light to enhance the surfaces and depth of both. We were aiming to create a new surface design and were both inspired by tile and marquetry pattern in interior applications, as well as the more irregular design found in nature. Ive included here some of the images that we collected that helped us to shape and hone our ideas.

We started looking at the patterns formed in nature when surfaces crack or grow. Cellular patterning occurs when there is a certain tension on the surface, for example when soapy bubbles form and define each others shape. The same thing happens with shrinking, such as a desert floor cracking in the sun. This linked in to the idea of 'The Path of Least Resistance'; the easiest path taken in nature when forms repeat and flow.

Beginning to do some drawings around these ideas, we decided to settle on a pattern made up of these irregular 5, 6 and 7 sided forms. Taken from a photo of soap bubbles, we started with Kristian's initial sketch which turned into this wooden sample. The rough marks of the saw cross over the wood grain to create layers of texture, brought out by a pale lye finish which gives the oak more of a grey tone.