The Palindrome series was created in response to the brief set by the recent Designers of the Future award exhibited at Design Miami / Art Basel 2009. The brief specified the use of plaster and mirror as the primary materials with which to build an installation.
The series focuses on the experience of symmetry with each piece comprising of half mould and half cast. The result is that the forms, textures and details on one side is mirrored on the other. The wood is first assembled as a mould and then the composite casting material is layered inside. Once this is set, the wooden mould is opened up, turned inside out and used to create the opposing side to the cast. The two sides are then bolted together using mould making fasteners.
Each imperfection is complimented on the opposite side of the unit: circular saw marks become symmetrical decorative swirls, knots in the wood become motifs and holes become handles. The wooden halves of the furniture have been engraved with a Palindrome word or name, which results in the word being repeated on the cast side in raised writing.
The invitation in the brief to use plaster is interesting as it is primarily an architectural / interior material rather than a common industrial design material. Keeping this in mind, the pieces reference an architectural language in both the material textures and also the simplistic proportions and forms which were derived directly from the sizes of the timber received from the saw mill.The technique of creating simple timber moulds is common in Modernist architecture, where ‘fair facing’ is used to create concrete structures often with a brutalist heavy wood grain.
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