SOUVENIR
December 2021

A collection of pieces made during lockdown, SOUVENIR is a continued exploration of the Vincula process used in my solo exhibition Opus Vincula: Mattresses Bound for Melbourne Design Week 2021.

After being soaked in a cement bath, wet pieces of mattress foam are bound with chains or combined with timber and hardware to create forms. As the concrete cures, the curves of the foam are petrified solid. 

With this kind of methodology, it’s difficult to plan out or impose sketch designs as the material only wants to stubbornly flop under its own weight. Every design ends up being unique.  As such, the works I made seemed to resemble ‘souvenirs’ from the process of making, rather than designs I executed - the solidified mementos from time spent exploring what I could do with the concrete-mattress process on any given day.

Aside from pushing the potential for unique formal outcomes, I also pushed the colour palette. For the lamps and clocks I made for the show, I thought about the tropes of souvenir, experimenting with colours one might find in souvenir shops: fluorescent greens, yellows, pinks, and blues.