OLIVER SPENDLEY
Oliver has a background in traditional boatbuilding as well as many other woodworking disciplines. Having worked for 10 years making and designing furniture on the south coast of England using Local timber a move up to the north coast of Scotland to Durness was a turning point in Olivers work.
Oliver’s gravitation towards sculptural objects has been informed by the timeless wilderness of the Scottish north coast. Stones of Megalithic form meticulously merged with wooden structural elements create Furniture and sculptures holding reverence for deep time. The Dark skies have made an obvious way into Olivers latest work, pieces reminiscent of outer space.
Oliver’s work heavily focuses on the marrying of natural stone with hand worked wood. The time-consuming technique of scribing the timber surface gradually around the changing contour of the stone.
Using gathered rocks from the local environment brings another dimension to Oliver’s work. Carrying out large stones over long distances makes for an embodied ethos thorough the practice with their wild shapes informing the basis of each design.
Available Works
Endless Orbit 02
Year: 2024
Dimensions: 38.5(H) x 42(W) x 26.5(D)cm
Materials: Scottish Lewisian Gneiss Stone, Scottish Elm, Brass
£1,400 GBP
These works are deeply from the land and at the same time give a feeling of otherness. As if they emerged from the ground or as if they are an artefact left here from a distend planet or civilisation. The cycles of nature and space are present materialised through craft and native Scottish stone and timber. The hand carved, charred larch disk is scribed to fit halo like around the, Scottish Lewisian Gneiss stone collected from a remote cove in the north west Highlands.
Grounding the piece is a charred larch totem plinth. Featuring hand inlayed butterfly joint details following the natural wood checking. My intention was for the transition from stone to timber to be seamless, an acknowledgement to the immensity of nature and the connection between the natural elements, materials and energies. Delicately scribing the totem and disk in wood to stone makes for a satisfying relationship. Supportive joints connecting each structure fit firmly and securely keeping each form supported by the other and by the most natural force, gravity.
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Endless Orbit 01
Year: 2024
Dimensions: 102(H) x 72(W) x 53(D)cm
Materials: Scottish Lewisian Gneiss Stone, Scottish Larch, Sterling Silver
£5,400 GBP
These works are deeply from the land and at the same time give a feeling of otherness. As if they emerged from the ground or as if they are an artefact left here from a distend planet or civilisation. The cycles of nature and space are present materialised through craft and native Scottish stone and timber. The hand carved, charred larch disk is scribed to fit halo like around the, Scottish Lewisian Gneiss stone collected from a remote cove in the north west Highlands.
Grounding the piece is a charred larch totem plinth. Featuring hand inlayed butterfly joint details following the natural wood checking. My intention was for the transition from stone to timber to be seamless, an acknowledgement to the immensity of nature and the connection between the natural elements, materials and energies. Delicately scribing the totem and disk in wood to stone makes for a satisfying relationship. Supportive joints connecting each structure fit firmly and securely keeping each form supported by the other and by the most natural force, gravity.
Enquire Now ︎︎︎