Like many of us, I grew up being conditioned to covet pretty bling things. Diamonds are a girls best friend. Gold is good. What ever you have, you need more…..
Now days, I’m trying to find a way to be an artist, working with body, using materials that sit well with my conscience. The days of mindless consumption are over. The challenge now, is finding my ‘why’. Sure, we all need money to survive, but is another pretty adornment what the world needs – what conversations am I trying to have with my work? While I figure this all out, I try to use ethical materials and work responsibly, with as little waste as possible.
Once every year or so, I go to a local scrap metal yard and have a rummage for brass and copper. I recycle silver where possible and get the rest from predominately recycled silver suppliers (sadly NZ doesn’t have a certified option yet).
I also like to explore new materials. Previously that was tying to cook up bio plastic and grow mushroom mycelium through different substrates in a cupboard ….neither were what you would term successful experiments. What I did learn was that these skills take more time to develop than I currently have. Leave it to the experts…
Recently I came across Critical Design, a local company making beautiful 100% recycled plastic architectural panels from old fishing nets, bottles and such. When I went to collect the sample pack I had purchased online, we got chatting and I was treated to a look around the plant to see their operation. Fascinating.
Here are some of the experiments: Filing, cutting, engraving, melting…
Unfortunately, I came to this product a bit late in the year, and with only a few weeks until the exhibition, I didn’t have time to fully explore it. I did discover that each colour has its own quirks, and look forward to finding different applications. Seeds of curiosity have definitely been planted.
https://criticaldesign.nz/