Stack Shelves

In the depths of the covid lockdown it was a joy to have the distraction of making a very unusual pair of shelving units commissioned by Artifex Gallery in Sutton Coldfield.

The simple design brief was to make a vibrant pair of shelving units to hold and display and eclectic range of ceramic pieces put together over a lifetime of collecting. The shelves were to go in separate rooms but should be aesthetically linked, with one slightly smaller than the other. The shelves should be free-standing, but anchored to the wall, and adding a bit of colour would be good.

After much head scratching, I came up with the idea of separating the shelves with carved wooden blocks that could be individually coloured or made from speckled brown oak. The shelves themselves would be made in solid sycamore so that the white wood set off the coloured blocks.

Carving and shaping the blocks was great fun and allowed me to work ‘free-hand’ for a lot of the time, the only essential element being that all the blocks on the same level had to be the same height. A lot of work went into preparing and machining the sycamore shelves, but in the end I was very pleased with the effect achieved and the client was delighted with the end result.