Project Overview
Kintsugi is a family of solid timber vessels designed to capture the beauty of the materials they celebrate. Oiled timber with soft faced concrete, the materials are united together with a metal inlay in the spirit of the Japanese technique 'Kintsugi' - to mend with gold. The various forms allow the materials to become something new altogether. The concrete loses it's industrial heritage and the timber becomes robust and strong, each taking on a new identity.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Designer - Matthew Sheargold
Fabricator - Anomaly (Axolotl & Evostyle)
Project Brief
Anomaly is a collective of designers brought together by the team at Axolotl and Evostyle. The brief involved creating a piece of furniture or objects incorporating the unique metal finishes that Axolotl is famous for with Evostyle's crafted custom timber work. Together the collections from each designer would form the Anomaly collection. Kintsugi is a range of solid timber vessels that seek to find a balance between the typically architectural Axolotl finishes and the natural beauty and craftsmanship of Evostyle's timber work. As an interior designer I was interested to see how far I could take the industrial nature of Axolotl's finishes. I wanted to soften them to see if they would fit in a contemporary interior without exuding their natural, industrial state.
Project Innovation/Need
Axolotl have a multitude of materials including brass, copper, rusted metal and so on. I wanted a material that was opposite to timber in every way so I chose a cement render. It's hard and industrial and contrasts with the timber but can have a ceramic effect when finished. The contrast is stunning but it needed something to connect the materials, to unite them. 'Kintsugi' is the Japanese technique of 'mending broken pottery with gold' which uses gold and resin to bind the pottery back together. The idea being that the repaired object is more beautiful than before it was broken. The concept is beautiful and inspiring and became the foundation of this collection. Whilst I didn't have a broken bowl the notion of using gold or metal as a mechanism to unite materials was critical to the evolution of the design. I developed a series of patterns borne out of the fractures in a Kintsugi bowl, these became the metal inlays uniting the timber and cement in the form of brass, copper and rusted steel.
Design Challenge
The challenge of designing with production methods you haven't previously been exposed to meant sometimes the ideas don't align with the fabrication technique forcing new approaches and thinking. This isn't a bad thing and one that the Anomoly team met with great tolerance and open minds. Specifically, applying the metal details to three dimensional surfaces with such precision and on multiple substrates was a great challenge but a beautiful outcome. And just designing beautiful forms wasn't enough, I wanted the vessels to have a function as well. As the cement finish could not adequately seal the entire surface of the inner cylinder a metal tube was introduced in either copper or brass (to match the inlay) which allows the vessel to be used as a vase.
Sustainability
It was important to me that this product could be made locally from the outset. Australia may not be able to compete with mass production on a global scale but we are still exceptionally capable of producing world class crafted products. For the local market this allows us to maintain a lower carbon footprint. And the designs are such that under license they could be produced in various markets around the world for local markets. Each vessel is produced from sustainably resourced timber which is hand turned and finished. The very idea that each vessel is hand made means there is a quality often lost in mass production. The best form of recycling is the simple act of being passed. For this it needs to be a quality product with sustainability and longevity designed in. This has been the approach with Kintsugi.
Product Design - Homewares
This award celebrates creative and innovative design for either a component or overall product. Consideration given to aspects that relate to human usage, aesthetics, selection of components and materials, and the resolution of assembly, manufacturing and the overall function.
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