Why Materials Matter
Sometimes its good to take stock and admit that your heart is not in the direction that you have been going. That has been the case for my research practice following on the Helix ruler project, and where to take my work next. I’ve known that consumerism, throwaway society, materiality, sustainability and responsible design the key areas that I want to make work about, however the ideas just weren’t working and I didn’t feel invested in it or like I owned it. The concepts were too trite, and not communicating in a way that was meaningful, fully making me question whether undertaking a MA was the right decision, and to go back to the beginning. I’ve felt under pressure to write myself a brief and start to create physical work that can could be potentially seen in a gallery space. After a tutorial with Nottingham based artist Tom Godfrey I was encouraged to look at archives, at practices that disrupt, placing my research into a noticeboard and to think less about the art-form and more about the context. I was also urged become the vehicle of the message, be disruptive, rather than the let the weak ideas becoming entertainment.
With this in mind I spent an afternoon in the library researching responsible design. In the book Why Materials Matter: Responsible Design for a better World by Seetal Solanki. The book tackles timely questions on how to consume, manufacture, and design for a better future. RCA graduate Pheobe Quare. Quare identified several materials on the island of Cork – from the sheep’s wool to mussel shells – that were being discarded or worse, costing the community money. She began experimenting and transforming the mussels into something usable. By applying heat, the shells turned entirely white, and after grinding them down and applying a natural binder she had created a workable plaster-like material.The resulting lights Quare designed reference the towers dotted across the island, as well as the military-style signal lamps, folding both the military history of the island as well as its current industries of agriculture and fishing into one object. Other notable and inspiring projects were; Hydrophobic Cork by Ilse Crawford, Recycled Newspaper paperbricks by WooJai Lee, Coffee cup paper by Extract GF smith, Rubble-dash by Assemble, Flax Chair by Christien Meindertsma, Recyled textile board by Really (Kvadrat), Sawdust Smoked ceramics by Granby workshop (assemble). It’s really heartening to see so many practitioners thinking about transforming otherwise discarded materials and this is firmly the direction I want to take my practice.
