
We have been offline for a while in order to add a shop to our site. Now you can buy online as well as commissioning your own piece
Paul has been busy working on a flotilla of small yachts shaped from driftwood collected on costal walks. This week has been so gloriously sunny we took the yachts down to the sea and photographed them beside the shores. It is the perfect setting for these little yacht and it brings out the spirit of the act of making.
There is a seasonal flow to collecting, forming and then selling these items. This flotilla is the result of a winter of walks along the shoreline. We get long wet winters here. If you settle into it the weather here has its own beauty. Good boots and a wooly jumper on a cold dry day or wellies and a waterproof allows a walk most days. Nothing beats a couple of hours wandering along the rocks and shoreline. It’s good for the soul. The winter storms toss up all sorts of interesting wood and other treasures. There is a magic to driftwood. Each piece has an untold story, a journey. They have traveled for an unknown time and distance carried from who knows where. These fragments of trees may be close to where they originally grew or on another continent. Sometimes the passage of time is evident in the marks of creatures burrowing into the wood but most keep their secrets.
The process of transforming the driftwood into something new and beautiful is quiet and contemplative like time spent on the beach. Looking at the wood to find a form within it, sanding and oiling it. Like stones on the beach each finished piece is different. They are shaped by both nature and man but with a gentle footprint in the world.