from my journal II

Freezing cold today!

Reading the journal now . . . thankfully, much of it appear as ‘fragments’ or very slight remnants of challenges that kept me up for many a night.

October 2009

Stephen Falcke asks us to submit a design for a wall at the entrance to the gymnasium at the new Da Vinci hotel in Sandton. We have ‘artistic license’ to design within the theme “black and white, 1960’s, retro”.
Here a brief rundown of the Research, Design and Planning:

• Pop art in the late 50’s and 60’s. The repetition of everyday images – Campbell's Soup Can labels - Andy   Warhol.

• Stark Contrast in Fashion design - Mary Quant, Yves Saint Laurent

• Paco Rabanne - aluminum plate studded chest dress.

• Graphic Hairstyles – Vidal Sassoon.

• Gloss Patent leather.

• “Make love not war” theme – Peace, Hearts,
• The Psychedelic fundamentals and
• Optical illusions, from 60s’
• Contrast and pattern.

The wall, already wallpapered in a black and grey patterned paper had to convey the black and white themes of the 60’s, yet contribute to the contemporary, sensual luxury of the 5 star hotel. We had to consider the architecture, color (or lack of), wallpaper and carpet patterns.

Early November. Our proposed design emphasis is on form - in gloss white and gloss black glaze.

The pitch included several design options, resulting in us being commissioned to do two walls and two very large chandeliers;  over the next few months the work will become much more: 

1. The wall outside the gymnasium - Gloss White Ceramic Hearts repeated on the dark wallpaper background. ±7 X 3,2 meters

2. Entrance lobby wall with Gloss White Ceramic Half Ball shapes, on a lighter wallpaper - typical 60’s Psychedelic Optical Illusion translated into a 3d wall installation. ± 4,5 m Diameter

3. A Chandelier – Three tiers made of thousands of round ceramic disks in clay and bone china, linked with silver rings. Large ring ± 2.5 m diameter X ±4 m total lenght

4. Large “crystal” chandelier – Ceramic Crystals . . . the irony in the use of clay to reproduce the shape of a perceived precious object / crystal. Installed in the center of a spiral staircase with the length of the "strands" following the slope of the stairs - from ± 2.5 m to ± 7.5 m long

5. A wall with 16 engraved Black & White Masks

6. Objet for the public areas

7. Vases for the rooms and dining areas

8. Standing Lamps

9. Lamp bases and shades
10. Large circular Mirror frames in Reception and Lobby.

". . . Pop art, aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture, most often through the use of satire is also associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques . . ."

"Tree" Wallpaper and Carpet designs. Copies from Bela at Stephen Falcke office.

THANK YOU BELA FOR YOUR HELP.

fragments from my journal 1

It has been a long time. Clementina encouraged me to enter fragments from my journal - to backtrack a little. The big projects we are completing now, were initiated in 2009. Some aspects of the work proved to be very challenging, but worth it.

In June 2009, South African Airways (SAA) invited us to submit a tender to manufacture a ceramic screen for the First Class Lounge at the new O R Tambo International Airport building; in preparation for the Soccer in 2010. The architect appointed by SAA, designed the screen. The brief: 

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  To make 998 cylindrical ceramic units 
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  Six different sizes - 1½ , 3 , 10 , 20 , 30 and 40 cm long all 7½ cm in diameter
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   Individually colored in White, Blue, Yellow Ochre, Brown or Khaki 
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  Burnished and Smoke fired 

The cylinders - suspended on stainless steel cables - form a screen between a lounge and dining area.

 I look back, with amusement . . . now. Here are some extracts, related to this project, from my journal:

•  Monday, 15 June 2009. Completed the15 page tender document - an achievement in itself! Four days (Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon) to get tax clearance, do technical drawings, work out moulds, costs, terms and more. The tender, bound and delivered, by 16h00 to the SAA offices.
• August 2009. We are awarded the contract!
• 13 October 2009. We receive order confirmation and start working for delivery 3 Dec 2009. So much work and so little time!
• Mid October 2009. Designer Stephen Falcke give us “artistic license” to design a wall – within his brief of “Black & White, 60s’, retro” - for a new hotel to be completed in February 2010. The chief buyer for the Conran Shop visits us and is very excited about some of the work in the studio. Anticipating the completion of the SAA screen by 3rd December, we start thinking and working on design proposals. More info on this in another post.

• October 2009. We make Prototypes in Plaster of Paris and/or Silicone Rubber. The client approves and signs off each model.
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  Make Production moulds.
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  Complete color samples for the clients’ approval.
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  Designs change. Cost to use a stainless steel cable clamp on each unit too high; we make changes to reduce the amount of clamps needed on each cable strand.
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  Mid November. All units are cast, but color samples not signed off.
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  End November. Installation postponed, till early January 2010
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  Mid December. Color samples signed off.
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  Color and burnishing seems never ending, at times. The units are fired to 1100 C° for strength before the smoke firing.
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  Smoke firing over a thousand units (including rejects) - no easy feat. The longer units are particularly difficult to smoke.
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  January 2010. The cable size has been changed! We have to re-drill a larger hole in each unit. Units are fired; some chip or crack. Make replacements . . .
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  24th March 2010, Finally! I set out to deliver and help install the screen.18 boxes with each strand arranged and packed individually. (Six sizes in six colors – too confusing to sort out on a building site) Fortunately SAA arranged for the company that did the rigging to do the fixing of the ceramic units. It took 7 days to install. I was present for most of the setting up; thank you to Hein and his helpers for doing the final fitting.

Working on site was interesting. Entrance to the location is through the international customs gates; I had to apply, and pay, for security clearance to enter the site (including tools, cell phone, etc needed). Imagine me with 18 boxes full of cylinder shapes at customs! Fortunately I had drawings of the screen with me; it made it slightly easier to explain. It did not occur to me to apply for clearance to take a camera in; the photos of the screen were taken with my cell phone.