Preservation Cabinet

Having studied the cabinet supplied by Mint, the victim of an accident, I decided that rather than attempting a repair I would much rather preserve it as a damaged object with its own history. I filled its drawers with salt crystals to give it a sense of time having passed through and preserved it and built a scaffold around it in the a way that you might a cathedral in a state of preservation.

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