Surface Design Awards – Complete

• INTERIOR SURFACE OF THE YEAR - NEW
  This is a new category that recognises wall, floor, ceiling and surface design products, including decorative, creative and inventive surfaces for the interior of buildings including both commercial and residential properties.

The project comprises of several pieces of bas-relief sculpture which can be set into a wall or framed as a wall hanging. Around 50 sculptures of varying size have been produced. The cost of these sculptures range from £1000 to £8000 GBP depending on size and complexity. Each bas-relief sculpture combines the ancient art of glass forming dating back to 1650BC in Mesopotamia known as core forming and a fabric manipulation technique dating to around the fourteenth century in Sicily. By combining these two process' with artistic inspiration from various sources, an unique Trapunto Art bas-relief sculpture can be produced. All sculptures have been produced and many are in storage.

The actual structure of the Trapunto Art Bas-Relief is made from the highest quality glass. This enables the complex horizontal voids to be formed by heat in a kiln. Hand dyed silk fibres and other recycled articles are then placed within the voids and then sealed. This process took nearly 10 years to develop and perfect and is totally original and has never been shown in public before. I believe it would add to the creative decor categories of the Surface Design Award.

All inclusions within the glass voids come from recycled materials. They may also be removed and replaced by other recycled materials. The glass itself can be re kiln formed to produce other glass objects if desired.

The main issue was creating a stable voided structure within the glass which was eventually overcome by following a MA in Glass and PhD in applied art.

The three dimensional surface creates amazing visual effects depending on the light source used for example if daylight is used, the sun moves around and the colours of the inclusions change. There are very different visual effects with artificial lighting for example a LED strip light will bounce the light rays at different angles creating added depth to the bas-relief structure.