Boxes With Personality
I love everything about Eucalypt trees. From a distance I love the variety and how each one has its own character and personality. Close up I adore the folds of smooth bark underneath the branches of a lemon scented gum, like folds of skin in the crease of an elbow. Or the blood-like sap oozing out of a wound. Big thick roots like feet so grounded. The way they make the Toolangi mountains look hazy blue in summer when oil from the leaves evaporates in the heat. They are living and sometimes centuries old. To be in the presence of a huge old Mountain Ash fills me with appreciation, awe and love and makes me want to live among them forever.
Some boxes I imagine to look like little dwellings and if someone tiny came across one in the forest, they might like to move in! I also like simple, organic shapes, such as seed pods. I just play around with gentle curves until a shape appeals to me. I believe that glass, like sap which was fluid but is now solid, is a natural pairing with timber.
I shape each box from a single block of timber using a bandsaw and various sanding machines and finish with a fragrant combination of tung nut and linseed oils.
I form the glass knobs by melting glass onto recycled copper electrical wire and finally anneal them in a kiln. The boxes are inspired by the majestic forests and wild mountain landscape and climate of Kinglake and Toolangi.
