WORKS NOTES TIJN山

 

陈LOUTER

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         











Metal Works

These are several examples of objects I’ve crafted from metal. Since being in the metal workplace for the first time I’ve felt in love with the material and have been exploring its rich characteristics since. I’ve made severl types of objects redefining them in a minimalistic sense, removing deliberate visual details which contradictionary have an almost form over function philosophy. I believe in minimalism and explore what this means through my physical objects. I usually do not research or plan out what I want with my projects which also gives me a sense of freedom, or lightness to this side of my practice. I also try to only use scrap materials found in the waste bin or repurpose older metal projects, this often leads to low-cost, circular projects, both ideas I stand for. When I am the materialstation I really experience it as a playground of exploration, materials and forms.






Folded Bookstand

I’ve always loved the idea of folding metal, since I was a kid experimenting with origami, the beauty simplicity, and hidden strength of folding materials has really left its mark. I haven’t always been a big reader but I’ve collected many artbooks over the years, by making a bookstand I give these books a highlight in my interior and also their credibility. The idea of folding two same size sheets and attaching them came to my mind as the perfect bookstand. It strongly resembles the unfolding of pages and the lightness of paper. Usually I do not undertake visual research or inspiration. This bookstand, as most of my made objects are, is really a form of playing thus experimenting and exploring with material forms and shapes.














Bottle Opener

During a short gap of classes I decided to jump into the metal station and continue my metal vase. Going through the scrap-bin I’ve found a small beam which I then saw repurposing opportunities in. I started sanding off the rough outer layer and giving it a clean look, as I usually do with my metal works. It had a perfect hand-feel and balance point which made me decide to craft it into a bottle opener. The gap is cut out by a mechanical saw which I carefully angled the metal beam to. Step by step I cut out more metal to create the bottle-opening gap. I looked up some rough measurements for the right gap length but eye-balled most of the measurements. I then gave it another brush clearing it off with a finer finish. Lastly the bottle opener is waterproofed with clearcoat. The simplicity of the bottle opener strikes me the most, it has abold sharp shape and no other attributes. The visual composition is in my eyes perfect and so is the hand-feel of the opener. No other functional attributes such as a keychain-holder or handgrip. Its a bottle opener in its purest form.





















Metal Vase

This steel vase has been an long ongoing side project developing everytime I had time to work in the metal station. It required techniques as folding, sanding, welding, clipping often combined. The vase grew from the notion of decreasing material usage for vases while maintaining its properties. This vase can be seen as an exoskeleton for flowers, it is all that is required to keep flowers in place, from a connection point at the top, and the base/bath on the bottom. The head part represents a flower and its petals, and from side angles the head and its stem could be recognised as a metal brutalist flower. I really like the composition of this vase as the head is not too big, the stem has a really nice angle and is not too long or short, and very important; the base gives flowers enough spaces within the vase, yet is works perfectly sizewise in relation to the rest of the vase.