Low table 1, 2010-2017
Stainless steel, RPR sheet, Hoop Pine.
Photo: The Robertson’s Photography.
A celebration of Ruskin’s ‘the perfection of imperfection’ the low table is one of a series. With an out-of-round top and imperfectly positioned legs the tables ‘disturb’ our increasingly, conditioned, mechanical execution and reading with manufactured products. Nature though symmetric is never perfect and allows for variation and the individual.
Low table 2 (2010-2017)
Stainless steel, ebonized Spotted Gum, RPR sheet.
Photo: The Robertson’s Photography.
Working from Eucalypt umbels the under-structure is engineered for lightness. Though metals such as stainless in domestic interior is deemed ‘cold’ it also has characteristics of the noble, precious metals found in jewellery. Learning from the art of the jeweller and its sensibilities, stainless has the possibility of adornment in relationship. The table can be disassembled and the top replaced.
Low table 4, 2010-2017
Stainless steel, reclaimed native ash, RPR sheet.
Photo: The Robertson’s Photography.
Nature is full of wisdom, the unexpected and wonder. The flowering fruits of the eucalypts vary grossly in size and shape but perform the same function. Never the same solution to a single problem, where lightness is a virtue for flexibility, mass is one of stability.
Low table 5, 2010-2017
Stainless steel, Red Ash.
Photo: The Robertson’s Photography.
It is surprisingly difficult to design and manufacture imperfect shapes and structures – even ones now made by hand, references for decisions are significantly less rational. Given the versatility of digital control, it is itself driven by formulae – algorithm’s digital fingerprint is not so easily erased. The right angle and the straight line have a mechanical efficiency in use and ‘less is more’ has become less about distillation, rather a cloak for cheapness and profit.
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