Despite the name, the UK’s Grimsdyke Farm is actually a research facility and experimental fabrication workshop for artists, designers and architects. “Established in 2004 by [architect and RCA instructor] Guan Lee, it has been hosting workshops, seminars and residencies with the aim of exploring the essential connections between materials, processes of design, and place,” they write.
One participant in Grimsdyke Farm’s programmes is London-based designer and design researcher Marco Campardo. “Marco’s work starts with hands-on experimentation and research to question the nature of contemporary models of production,” his bio reads. “With a keen interest in materiality, his research seeks to subvert or adapt industrial manufacturing processes to propose an alternative to standardised, mass production. The final result of this process is aesthetically and conceptually refined objects, whose final form is determined by the very process of making.”
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One such object is this Lee Bench, fabricated from a Walnut tree felled on the Grimsdyke property.
“Keeping the wooden planks in their original state, the edges have been [gouged] to highlight the qualities of walnut, while evoking sculptural detailing and high-end craftsmanship.”
“Inspired by the work of George Nakashima, the iconic American architect and woodworker, the collection features an interpretation of the butterfly joint. Popularised by Nakashima, the butterfly joint has become a decorative, as much as structural detail, in woodworking. Replaced here by a squiggly brass joint, called ‘Caterpillar joint’, this unexpected detail seeks to reinterpret classic woodworking techniques.”
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The tree yielded more material than the bench needed, and the remaining wood was shaped into a buffet, a wall shelf and a mirror frame using the same techniques.
Source: core77