Contemporary Heirlooms

Drawing on vernacular materials and craft practices, Stuart’s work reflects a trend which is visible in various forms and multiple disciplines across the spectrum of contemporary design practice. Namely a move away from a monolithic model of design for mass manufacture, and its relentless pursuit of perfection, and towards a re-appraisal of the pre-industrial, of craft processes and what has been termed “slow design”. Having trained and practiced as an engineer, it is perhaps unsurprising that Stuart has revelled in the release from the strictures of this most exacting of disciplines, to embrace the freedom of a post industrial approach to form finding. In Stuart’s practice, the character, properties, limitations and possibilities of available materials are explored and embraced, allowing for ideas, not yet fully resolved, to develop, morph and grow organically within the making process. Arriving at sometimes unexpected, yet always welcomed outcomes. Anthropologist Tim Ingold describes most contemporary design practice as operating within a hylomorphic model—“the imposition of (predetermined) form upon the material world.” Against this he argues for a more human approach which embraces the “Textility of Making” which centres on materials and forces, on movement and processes of negotiation between material and human action. From just such a negotiation between materials and human intention, Stuart has produced a unique collection of objects ‘contemporary heirlooms’ to use his own terminology. Each piece an absolute one-off, each carefully crafted, yet not CRAFT. Contemporary but rooted in traditional practices, they perhaps perfectly mirror Stuart’s own experience and journey. Seamlessly bridging the worlds of design, craft and engineering.