furniture and objects 2000 – 2003

A selection of object designs completed during my bachelor studies at the College of Fine Art.

The straws above are functional cocktail drinking straws made from sterling silver, gold and rhodium – an inversion of the materials and value we usually associate with plastic drinking straws – a theme I continue to work with (see the Silver Toilet Brush)

The Slashbox Modubes above are modular table/chairs that connect with hidden magnets. Each group of stark red minimalist cubes features one that is smashed on one side with an axe. The design was my first use of generative technique, and also wabi-sabi (for me the two are not unrelated). The working concept dealt with food i.e “what is really inside industrialised food?” and “what is the tension between natural and artifical food?”, but more broadly, the design contrasts the idea of uniformity and control with a feeling for the unique and chaotic.

The Big Fat Ring, from the a collection I made of “un-wearable jewellery”inspired by mathematical topology. This design, for example, is a shape that is homeomorphic with a conventional wedding band (or also a coffee cup), but whose hole is two small for the finger and whose body is too large for the hand.

This design is a lit, low table commissioned by an architect. The main feature is that the leg structure is “spongy”; the vacuum formed shell is bracketed by re-arrangeable steel legs cushioned by silicon rubber washers. This creates a soft interactivity – the glass table top has a slightly springy reaction to touch.

Trinumeric Dice, inspired by the Rosetta Stone, numbered in Indo-Arabic numerals, binary and Mayan numbers. My exploration in producing time-indestructible objects/tools. More recently this theme has been adopted by the Long Now Foundation, with their Rosetta Disk and Clock of the Long Now, among other projects.