After studying woodturning for a year in France, I came to Campus Steneby with the intention to keep furniture design and woodturning as two separate interests. But as I lacked the time to develop my woodturning skills outside of school, I decided for my degree project to integrate the two. Thus began my project , LatheScapes. While thinking about how to relate these two, I started questioning how I approach my turning projects and what I value in other turners’ work. One detail I’ve noticed while doing so is the following: of all the woodturners I follow, the vast majority take the side of woodturning as an art form, a few make tableware, but almost none use woodturning for furniture. While this might only be a reflection of what I’m interested in and not universal in the craft, there has been a shift in the craft in recent years, from being a part of furniture- and cabinetmaking, architecture and other practical crafts, to becoming more of an art form. This resonated with my own approach to turning, and my unwillingness in recent years to use woodturning as an element in the furniture I was designing. LatheScapes – An exploration of woodturned forms, is a material exploration project that aims to investigate how woodturning can serve as a resource to generate ideas and as a structural frame for my work. By investigating different techniques used in the craft, I intend to explore how traditional woodturning forms can meet contemporary design, by developing different furniture prototypes using woodturning as a central part, whether as a technique or as a sketching tool. My approach to this project was to start by doing as much exploration as possible. My two main axes of research were using green wood, and exploring the forms obtainable on the lathe. I later translated what I’ve learnt/explored into pieces of furniture: a side table using only woodturning as a form-giving technique and not as a manufacturing method, alongside a stool that emphasises this lathe-given form, by using the negative form of the legs and taking the opposite approach of using woodturning as a production method. As for the lamps, the idea was to use (green) woodturning as a manufacturing method, but mainly to create objects that showcase the natural properties of the wood, how once turned it will continue to live by cracking, drying into unpredictable forms.
