14 Nov An Interior Design Dream in Sussex
In the July of this year, the studio was approached by an existing client to scratch build a louvre wall where the artwork would be double sided and revolve to let the light shine through this stunning Sussex country home.
To make the dream come true, firstly, I needed to see if the idea was feasibly doable, so I needed to call on my good carpenter friend Ben Thorne who would know exactly how to make the structure for the 13 panels needed to fill thew space as well as look at how to scratch build a mechanism that would create the louvre system where all the panels turned at the same time when one of the panels was pushed.
The artwork would be double sided, each of the 13 panels made with steel and incorporating coffee and oils fired into the work, the client really enjoyed the effect I had created for the Novotel Project in 2017 and thought the Oxford Blue colours would match the colours of their walls, I had suggested the Albany Range Gold for the opposite walls to really bring the blue to life. The client also wanted the reverse side of the louvre doors to be an amalgam of Red, Pink and a mix of Purples to match other colours in the home. So the overall picture was to provide a dividing wall which would bring to life all the various colour areas within their home.
The industrial feel of the ferric chloride which provides the browns and exposes some of the aged steel was intrinsic to the feel that the client wanted.
So, the panels are made with Sussex sourced timbers which are then sandwiched between the steels, each panel measures 215cm and spans 220cm, so almost a square box. When the wall opens, the natural daylight that sweeps through the property bounds through the wall. The opposite effect is that you can close off part of the main room to enable a home working space where you can live in a fully functioning art room.
Construction for the Wall took place over both Ben’s and myself’s studio within a 4 month period, the steel pieces for the Louvre systems had been handmade by ourselves and relies on a pin hinge system that balances the weight of 150kgs on a set of 13 ball bearings. Install was straight forward and built into the box joint under the main RSJ running through the centre of the house.
The clients are in love with the piece, they have been part of this process from inception of the idea to install. Both Ben and me are really happy with the result and its something we want to repeat for another client.
