A Table In The V&A

London’s V&A modestly describes itself as “the world’s greatest museum of art and design” and I, for one, am not about to argue with that. As a child, I found it’s neighbours in South Kensington, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, completely fascinating., but the Victoria and Albert always seemed a little dusty and, frankly, quite dull.

Luckily both the V&A and myself  grew up. It has moved on from just being a fantastic repository of the entire history of the decorative arts to a dynamic and constantly evolving, modern museum but, more importantly, it has done this without either dumbing down or losing its focus. As for me, well, I just grew older and slightly less stupid and I just love it.

It’s  impossible to pick a single favourite piece from a collection of this size, but there are several items that I am always happy to stand and look at whenever I visit. The one I have chosen for  this post is the Cinderella Table.

Designed and constructed during 2005/2006  it is the work of Jeroen Verhoeven. Conceived to explore the capabilities of CAD/CAM, that is, Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing, it is an extraordinary, complex and, importantly, repeatable piece of furniture.

Verhoeven took his inspiration from the classical forms of  the 17^th and 18^th century. In this case a commode (no, not the chair/chamber pot combo of this century) and a side table. After entering his simplified 2D drawings into a computer, he set about combining the two items into a single organic 3D form.

It took him 3 months to achieve the final shape which was then sliced into 57 virtual slices. These were then carved into shape by a 5 axis CNC (Computer Numerical Control) milling machine. Each of the 80mm thick, birch ply, pieces  was cut from the back and the front to copy all of the curves and undercuts of the original design. Finally, the individual slices were joined together and the whole thing finished by hand. The milling and final finishing were carried out by the Rotterdam company Demakersvan.

It truly is a thing of beauty. At the same it seems to be intensely complex and stunningly simple. There is no decoration apart from the lines of the birch ply which appear to swirl over the surface. It is sensational, sensuous and sexy…………..and I want one!

The V&A example is number 2 of an edition of 20.Several other museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, have examples of this table in their collections which is an indication of the importance of the design in the development of design and construction. An example was sold by Sotheby’s in New York in 2006. It went for $42,000.………so it seems unlikely that I’m ever going to get one!

Finally, this design has also been reproduced in white carrara marble. An edition of 6 were produced in 2008, they are a stunning technical achievement and wonderous to look at, but if I had the choice I would chose a birch ply example every time. Oh well, at least I can dream.

 

The Cinderella Table is in room 76, part of the Twentieth Century Gallery.

Late Night Dinosauria

The BBC has been having a bit of a dinofest recently. The series Planet Dinosaur has been leading the way but there have been a number of associated factual programs on BBC2and BBC4 and even a showing of the 1969 Hammer “classic” When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. 

This isn’t a complaint. I’m rather partial to dinosaurs. Childhood visits to the Natural History Museum  are responsible for that. It’s not a scholarly sort of fascination, I couldn’t identify a baryonyx from a single metatarsal and a tooth, and I can’t separate my Jurassic dino’s from their Cretaceous cousins, but I do find them extraordinarily beguiling.

I do sometimes find the superlatives hurled at these creatures to be slightly annoying. The biggest/longest/heaviest/most lethal creature ever to have walked the Earth is totally misleading. For years we have been told that T Rex was the biggest, baddest killing machine ever to have stomped around on our planet. Now it’s been relegated to second, or even third in the ratings. The current super villain seems to be Spinosaurus, but the best we can ever really say is that it is the top predator found to date.

Palaeontologists have really only scratched the surface as far as discoveries are concerned. Major new finds in China, Mongolia and South America are expanding our knowledge and, more importantly for someone like me, providing jaw dropping new record holders to wonder at.

But, perhaps, the thing that really grabs my attention is the time scale. We have been around for a while. It’s generally accepted that Modern Humans first appeared around 200,000 years ago.  All things considered, we have come quite a long way in that time. From basic stone tools to the computer on which this is being written. From walking the plains to flying in planes and from looking at the stars to sending machines into space to find out how they work. Dinosaurs, on the other hand, were around for something like 160,000,000 years before “disappearing” 65,000,000 years ago. The super killers T Rex and Spinosaurus never  got the chance to see who was top dog because they lived 30,000,000 years apart. Yes, that is thirty million years apart! These are mind numbing numbers and almost impossible to grasp.

OK, dino’s didn’t have planes, trains or automobiles. They didn’t paint masterpieces, enjoy the cinema or get frustrated by the internet. They didn’t get to enjoy a convivial pint at the local pub or watch Pink Floyd in concert and they didn’t get to fly to the moon, but what they did do is survive and evolve. Anyway you look at it, 160,000,000 years is not to be sniffed at.

It does beg the question, where will we be in 160,000,000 years? Will we even still exist or have we already sown the seeds of our own destruction? If we do still exist, what will we have become? No one can say and perhaps it’s better not to know. I, for one, plan not to lose any sleep worrying about it. I’ll just enjoy the past and let the far future take care of its self.

We are lucky in London to have the Natural History Museum. One of the world’s greatest collections and a place where research into the past and the present inevitably gives us a glimpse into the future.

The building itself is a joy, designed by Alfred Waterhouse, it opened in 1881. Built in the high Victorian style, extensive use is made of terracotta tiles, both inside and out. Both tiles and brickwork feature relief sculptures of flora and fauna, living on the west side of the building and extinct on the east. Even without its contents it’s a place in which you'd be happy to spend a lot of time.

Along with other museums and galleries in the capital, the NHM has a late night opening. With the exception of December, the museum opens until 10.00pm on the last Friday of every month. You can have a meal and a glass of wine or a beer (there is something slightly decadent about wandering around a museum with a glass of wine in your hand!) and you can chat to various experts about a whole range of subjects . You should be aware that not all of the galleries are open in the evening. If there is something that you particularly want to see, it might be worth contacting the museum beforehand to see if it accessible.

I can’t believe that there are many Londoners who haven’t been to the NHM, but if you are one of them sort yourself out and get along there as soon as possible. You won’t regret it.

More interesting stuff here.

Experiments In Light and Motion

Pretentious title, oh yes, but not a pretentious subject. There are all kinds of arguments among “serious” photographers, for and against digital cameras, but as I don’t fit into the serious category I won’t be going into them here.

For me, digital was a revelation and rekindled my interest in photography. It gave me the freedom to wander the streets taking pics of anything and everything that catches my eye without spending a fortune on film and processing and most importantly without having to wait to check the results. It also gave me the freedom to experiment.

All photography should be fun and as well as taking conventional pics, I do like to play with light. It doesn’t take a great deal of effort and , providing your camera has some form of manual control, you don’t need any fancy equipment. Any SLR and many compact cameras will allow you to set a long exposure time. All you need then is a dark place and a light source.

Forget the rule book, point your camera at the light source, press the button and move the camera while the shutter is open, simple. If you have a manual zoom, use it while the shutter is open. Be adventurous and do both at the same time. You can even hold the zoom ring steady and rotate the camera instead. Experiment with different shutter speeds and apertures. It doesn’t really matter, providing you don’t drop it, none of this is going to do the camera any harm, and if you don’t like the results just delete them.

If you want to go a little further, try using your camera in a moving vehicle, or fix the camera on a tripod and move the light source instead. The possibilities are endless
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On the whole, the results are unpredictable but that is part of the fun and with some practice you can give the pictures some sort of form.

Just try it, you might like it!

 

There are more examples in my Motion Set here http://www.flickr.com/photos/malcnhg/sets/72157603093980490/