Having ideas for artworks is all well and good, but then there’s the reality of actually making the dammed things. Ribbons is a case in point! Such a simple concept and form, but the engineering and fabrication processes required to make an incredibly strong, rigid material (corten steel) look fluid and fluttery are super complicated and extremely challenging.
Fortunately, I’m not alone in this endeavour! Many, many hours have been spent with Fish Fabrications, Cowsike Workshop and Skyhooks Engineering working out how to actually make Ribbons, how to make it stand up and how to make it strong enough to withstand the stuff the world throws at it. They have taken my studio models (of which there have been 12 versions with multiple iterations) and worked out how to fabricate the sections, how they’ll be joined together, the connections (where the ribbons cross one another) and how the sculpture will ultimately be fixed into the ground. Amazing stuff!
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