01.02.08

This week has been spent working on a mixture of tasks.
I finished designing the glass moulds on Rhino 3D. They are intended for production on the Z Corp machine in RapidformRCA, then infiltrated and cured. They should then be able to comfortably withstand the heat of rotation blowing. I first designed a piece to test both the materials and how the glass would fit the form, but decided that it was more productive to design a piece that related directly to my project.







Last weekends unfinished writing on ‘Sensing the Container’ gave me plenty to think about during the week. I revisited the Anthony McCall exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery and saw a number of connections to my thoughts on form and formlessness. The light, projected through smoke across a darkened room takes on a material quality that is not dissimilar to water or a translucent liquid like the Darjeeling tea that I drink. Being able to enter the beam of light, and engage with it, dramatically changes the experience of the space. The boundaries of the gallery completely dissolve; there is virtually no sense of anything apart from the slowly shifting form of the projected light and the image it creates on the wall.












I managed to resurrect our research seminar group a.k.a. the Cake club for a meeting at the V&A on Thursday. We met to discuss the ‘Out of the Ordinary’ exhibition, then were treated to tea and cakes by Heike in the wonderful Morris room of the cafe. There were mixed feelings about the exhibition, it was not greeted with complete enthusiasm. The glasswork of Susan Collis for instance, was generally regarded as literal, leaving little for the imagination, whereas the intricately carved plants and flowers by Yoshihiro Suda were appreciated both for the dedication of achieving such a high level of craftsmanship and their poetic quality. For me the positive aspect of the exhibition is that it is labelled as ‘craft’. From my perspective of 20 plus years making functional pots and now having the luxury of time away from the studio to redefine my future practice, I am excited by the attempts to redefine and reposition ‘craft’.

07.12.07 - Ceramic Futures & the Future of Ceramics

The RSA project has been the focus this week, though on Monday I drove through very heavy rain to the Ideal Standard factory at Middlewich. The containers had arrived so we filled 6 of them. I hadn’t realised that they would be so heavy, but the slip is 1.9 kilos per litre so one container weighs about 40 kilos.

On Tuesday I arrived at College to Tavs Jorgensen enthusing about the lid of my Wedgwoodnt tureen. I rushed upstairs to Rapidform feeling like Christmas had arrived early! The lid, had turned out really well, far more beautiful than I expected. Alastair was finishing the preparation of the base section on Freeform software though his time is spent juggling other projects as well.

On Tuesday afternoon I had a meeting with Jeremy Myerson in Innovation for advice on the questions that should be asked at Wednesday’s meeting with the French company. He gave me a list of very practical points to clarify. I also asked about how Research Associate positions operate within the College. He mentioned Innovation Fellowships where sponsorship comes from various sources for the project. In this case there would be the French, possibly someone from within the industry here, made {DTI] and possibly the London Design Festival. I need the backing of the Ceramics & Glass department as the project would be based there and there may be some cost implications. Martin is interested in the materials, but needs to know more before committing himself.

Wednesday’s meeting with the French company to arrange collaboration went very well. Both parties are enthusiastic about working together. There will have to be a non-disclosure agreement between College and the company as some of the materials are still in development and haven’t been patented yet. This may need to be mutual in case the RCA develop new applications or products.

Martin Watmough from Rapidform kindly invited me to a meeting with Robin Levien and his team on Friday. They were over at College to discuss Rapid Manufacture, Martin giving them a tour and talking them through the various systems. It was a great opportunity for me to talk about the French ceramic materials and their potential. There was a bit of a disagreement about just how revolutionary they are and whether they are truly ceramic, according to the definition of ceramic [made of clay and irreversibly hardened by heat]. That seemed to pass and when I mentioned my interest in an Innovation Fellowship he offered to be the Industrial partner. For me, that is a very important part of the jigsaw.

In the afternoon, Grace came down from Middlesex University and after having a look round the C & G Work in Progress show we went over to the Serpentine Gallery where there is a stunning show of light installations by Anthony McCall. They are computer programmed moving images of lines and wave patterns projected through smoke. The effect is mesmerising, the light appears as gossamer thin material that you can walk through and engage with. Each viewpoint gives a different perspective, looking from within a shape is quite different from observing from outside. We were both stunned by the magic and beauty of the art. I need to go again, now that I know what to expect and be more analytical. Maybe the exhibition would make a good topic for a research seminar meeting.