work / MEADMORE DECONSTRUCTION PROJECT 2020
MEADMORE DECONSTRUCTION PROJECT 2020
(How to make furniture without tools)
Meadmore Deconstruction Project #2 is a series of small maquettes and models made during lockdown in early 2020. Appropriating a selected group of simple slab constructed furniture designs by Clement Meadmore from his book How To Make Furniture Without Tools published in 1975. In the book Meadmore acknowledges that 'the germ for the idea for this book' was Gerrit Rietveld's Crate Furniture designs from the 1920s. Meadmore expanded upon Rietveld's concept and designed a new 'System' which consisted of a series of simple furniture items 'specifically intended for amateur construction for someone with absolutely no previous experience and no tools'.
This project focuses on four items from Meadmore's book including the Pinwheel Table, High Backed Armchair, Bar Stool and Plinth. I made a series of small white models of each of these furniture items. I've then remade these into small sculptural maquettes by taking the existing pre-cut panels and rearranging them - essentially deconstructing the basic elements of each furniture piece and reworking them to form completely new structures. Borrowing heavily from an earlier collaborative project with my partner Dana Harris titled 'Meadmore Deconstruction Project' from 2011 (link below) which was exhibited in 'The First Show' at Pinup @ Something Together in Collingwood.
This new project is an evolution of that process, taking it one step further...moving away from furniture to form strange new hybrids that fit somewhere between furniture and sculpture.
Link to Meadmore Deconstruction Project 2011
Cover of 'How To Make Furniture Without Tools' by Clement Meadmore. Published by Pantheon Books in 1975.
Meadmore included cutting plans for each individual design in the book.
'Dining Chair' and 'Low Stool' 2020 made with reclaimed wood to the exact measurements of the plans contained within the book How To Make Furniture Without Tools. Harris/Atkins Collection, Melbourne.
'Dining Chair' and 'Low Stool' 2020 Harris/Atkins Collection, Melbourne.
Right: Clement Meadmore designed Barstool c1975. Left: Barstool Deconstructed 2020 (maquette)
Right: Clement Meadmore designed Plinth c1975 Left: Plinth Deconstructed 2020 (maquette)
Right: Clement Meadmore Designed High Backed Chair c1975 Left: High Backed Chair Deconstructed 2020 (maquette)
Right: Clement Meadmore designed Pinwheel Table c1975 Left: Pinwheel Table Deconstructed 2020 (maquette)
Small hand made models made from cardboard - from the oringinal cutting plans contained in Meadmore's book 'How To Make Furniture Without Tools' c1975
A series of mall Maquettes made from cardboard.
