Lockdown has been a time of reflection for all of us. As a creative gently pressing pause on my exhibitions, it has meant being able to focus some time and energy towards working on new concepts and projects. And I’ve had the pleasure to be able, during this very isolated time, to work on a very special, socially distant collaboration.

Myself and Bobby already share a passion for the ocean and a connection to nature through a love of surfing, so it seemed a very natural step to join our practices in a collaborative collection. To work with such a passionate craftsman has been an utter joy. To hear Bobby talk about his processes and the history of his pieces he creates is wonderful. Here are some of Bobbys words about our first piece...

“I acquired some pieces of wood from an oak tree that had been condemned by a house-owner due to the inconvenience of its leaves on the lawn in the autumn and winter months. This sad and ignorant order to fell a tree angered me at a time when we should be exploring every opportunity to co-exist with our natural environment. I created a vessel with the wood and burnt it, intentionally scorching the warm golden tones into deep blacks to reflect my feelings towards the tree's end. I took the wood to the limits of its tolerance, stressed it to the point of cracking and gave Danni a call.” - Bobby Mills.

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of ‘golden joinery’ - taking something broken and fixing it with gold. The fix in turn makes the object more beautiful by honouring its history. Instead of disguising the break or trying to make something perfect again, the art form values the damage, marks and wear of the object.

This in turn can be seen as a metaphor for our own lives. The cracks and breakages in our lives are simply events in our stories, by which we can learn, and they are the lessons that make us stronger over time.

So much in the world right now seems broken, but its time to reflect on those fragmented parts and heal ourselves and our surroundings. So many individual lessons have been learnt during this time, and we can make our connection with the environment and nature stronger by healing those breakages, and making our weaknesses our strongest and most precious elements.

I’m very excited to be able to share the journey of this vessel, which seems to have a life of its own, it has been touched and shaped in many ways, to become the piece it is today.