Writing this blogsite has made me realise just how influencial the work of Pawson/Silvestrin in the late 80s has been on mainstream interior fixtures and fittings twenty+ years later.
The floor standing bath spout is a good example – we used to have them made by a local engineer for use with wooden Japanese tubs; made by hand and then chromed, they cost many hundreds of pounds.
Two minutes searching on the web has produced the above for around £150, which is probably progress of some sort…
Colleagues of ours were undercut on a job they’d quoted on last week by a British company who manufacture in China and who can deliver a bespoke kitchen in four weeks; ready painted, glazed and with ironmongery in place.
Discussing this it quickly became clear that dismissing it on carbon footprint grounds doesn’t work for any of us that import timber (ie. most of us), so do we embrace this or do we resist it ? Do we carve a niche for ourselves with truly bespoke pieces that need face to face discussion with the client while viewing the work or do we put aside our concerns about working conditions in China and join in?
a shed bought for housing an outhouses worth of stuff while our build was happening has now become permanent and extended to create a bike shed and wood store – so far so ordinary, except that all the timber apart from the cladding came as something else: the doors are some panelling from our old bathroom, the roof timbers were the frame the windows were delivered on, the roof sheets of ply left by the builders…Richard now has a workbench and three bicycles in there to spend many happy hours with.
Leaving aside the fact that elderly men with allotments have been doing this for years, buildings made from recycled timber are now winning awards:
sustainablecitiescollective.com/smallhousestyle/7398/reclaimed-space-takes-dwell-design-storm
so lets get those offcuts doing something useful rather than heading for landfill.
Between the handlebars
Occasional posts from a MAWIL: A Middle Aged Woman In Lycra. This is a single use acronym and only to create a context. Actually you might not want to dwell on that image.
A six mile commute from home to the office along the A419; the tedium relieved by the contemplation of slogans on vans, often when they’re very close. Example: ‘travelling miles to deliver smiles’. On a florist’s van. Did someone tell you that was a good idea or did you make it all up yourselves?
And items on the road: yesterday – single sock count:3. 3 completely different size and colour socks in 3 different locations on the tarmac. Why?
This is Schimmer Childs’ new WordPress based website.
Not just a collection of images of our work but more a record of the development of a 3D design and manufacturing company over the 20 years it has existed with some thoughts about Design we like and Design we don’t.
Schimmer Child specialise in 3D design and have a history of design and manufacturing spanning over twenty years for companies and organisations including,
- John Pawson
- Claudio Silvestrin
- The Henry Moore Institute
- The Yorkshire Sculpture Park
- The Henry Moore Foundation
- Leeds City Art Gallery
This site has been developed with Design Credo of Exeter, you can see a bit more of the story here.
As with any blog this is the beginning, the site will develop, change and grow so remember to bookmark it.
Iroko Cedar Cabinet
Cantilevered Iroko, Cedar of Lebanon and Wenge bathroom drawers.
London
'Return to Life' installation 3. Jerry Hardman-Jones. Co (1)
Henry Moore Institute
Return to Life
A travelling exhibition of portrait busts. Leeds and London
