Materiality and process have been running themes in my work throughout my degree, as I explore the physical properties of materials and endeavour to emphasise the importance of process leading up to a final outcome. These key ideas have often culminated in the use of wood and ceramics, materials that have such contrasting properties. Influenced by contemporary designer makers creating furniture with unconventional materials like concrete, my degree show body of work explores material hybridity in furniture, incorporating ceramics and metal as visual elements within hard wood pieces.

 

In the coffee table, wood meets metal through the use of dovetailing. This adjacency of the flammable alongside the ignitable draws attention to this unlikely yet complimentary pairing of materials as it is assumed that one will set fire to the other. The absence of any serious damage calls into question the properties of the metal that allow it to become a fluid at 230 degrees yet leave the wood relatively unharmed. I further explore the materiality of metal by casting it into the form of bark, demonstrating its ability to take on the likeness of another material.

 

The bedside table takes and juxtaposes the inherent qualities of strength and fragility wood in and ceramic respectively. By using ceramics, I aim to evoke the juxtaposition of it being seen as both a strong and fragile material by using it as a structural component in the form of a drawer front and in doing so encourage a rethinking of how it can be used.