Research – Room Partitioning

This is a reel of train ticket stock. In the centre is the compressed cardboard spool.

They are usually thrown away. Most train stations get through hundreds of these in a week.

I never knew what to do with these modular shaped spools with their perfectly round, strong and sturdy form. But felt it had to be something architectural, so I started with all sorts of experiments; wrapping them in different materials, colouring them, embellishment just to see what was going to work. Then I thought about something to give it added glamour and came up with a pendant made of Swarovski crystals in the shape of a heart. This I later decided was lovely but not viable, because I would require hundreds for a complete room divider that rose up to the ceiling and at the prices it just wasn’t sustainable. So I opted for smaller crystals of different shapes and sizes and strung them up to make the pendant. The holes where the dowels sat had to be drilled with precision. And the base had to be stacked and made to compensate for the height and keep it rooted to the ground by filling it up with plaster.