The Bronze Milk Crate was created for Bespoke, an exhibition shown in conjunction with design exposition DEN Fair. 'DEN brings together the most inspiring collaborative of talent and brand names under one roof to create an unprecedented platform for the interior & design industry to connect and do business'.
Focusing on the brief from Bespoke directors; Respond to ‘the humble box’ we conceived the idea of celebrating the iconic milk crate. Impeccably designed for practicality, longevity, simplicity & user friendly the milk crate became our creative foundation. Understanding that Bespoke is a platform to display skill, craftsmanship and boundary pushing of your chosen material, we decided to work collaboratively towards the exhibit. The form was appropriately challenging with thin linear grids to negotiate, proving a very complicated execution of translating one material into another.
Once we decided upon a stylish crate we cut one side, made a rubber negative with plaster casing, we then cast four sides separately in wax to later construct them into the four sided crate seen here. This crate was then sprued with airs and given runners so that the mould could breathe and allow the bronze to flow.
It worked a treat, the material managed to find every thin linear section of the crate, the detail exquisite, now to polish her up and give a light patina.
JUMP - National Mentoring Program for Young & Emerging Artists
In December 2010, Adelaide based glassblower Amanda Dziedzic approached me to be her mentor for a 9 month Jump National Mentoring program in 2011. I had met Amanda on several occasions, she had struck me as vivacious, charismatic and somewhat on the pulse, I thought ‘what a great idea’. Co-incidently the notion of having an Adelaide based team member worked extremely well for the development and execution of several projects that were brewing at my end, namely the Adelaide Fringe. Amanda became instrumental in confirming the venue, organising teams and also played a key role in the production of the work during the intense week of making at the Jam Factory.
This ongoing relationship has flourished into several visits by Amanda to Lobe where she has helped me spin my Sustainable Stubby production and shared cocktails in our forever growing veggie garden.
I recently ventured back to Adelaide to join her during her Artist in Residnece fortnight at the Jam Factory, Amanda was focused on developing work for a SALA exhibition scheduled in August, she also found time to mentor the associates in the development of their design/production/work. Amanda’s recent work is beautifully poetic with foliage weaving their way through vessels, sharing openings and spouts creating a landscape of fluid activity.
For images and text on Amanda’s latest developments please visit Amanda’s blog: Little Bird Big Chip