Pioneering Console Table
When presented by Mint with the beautiful, yet now defunct, solid walnut CD rack by E15 I sought to retain its essential form yet totally transform its purpose and context. I decided to make a tabletop out of the CD rack by placing strips of sycamore into the slots and support it with a pair of lashed together beacon towers. I enjoy the interplay between the primitive and sophisticated in both materials and technique as well as breaking the visual reading of the object as a ‘model’ by incorporating the bricks as functional ballast. In a way, making furniture as buildings.
This is part of theme broadly described as ‘Sticks and String’. As a boy Scout growing up in Johannesburg we used to build huge structures out of poles and rope, some reaching more than 60 feet high, we referred to this as ‘sticks and string’ or more technically, ‘Pioneering’. In my recent work I’ve been bringing this method of construction into furniture making. It carries with it narrative of personal nostalgia but also a cultural nostalgia for the primitive. Architecture has always been a starting pint in my work and these pieces are the most boldly architectural to date.
Currently on show and available to purchase from Mint in London