PERISCOPE STOCKPILE GARDEN:
EARTH TO TABLE
Working with soil borrowed from a construction site in Barking, East London, a hand-crafted set of tableware explore a transitional approach to making with the landscape, inviting soil to join us at the table. This collaboration is part of Periscope's Stockpile Garden, a landscape laboratory on one of the biggest construction sites in Europe. Exploring soil health and biodiversity on post-industrial sites, the garden brings together contemporary research, theory and practice in construction and ecology.
YEAR
2024
PROJECT TYPE
MATERIALS
COLLABORATORS
Periscope Studio, Kirsty Badenoch
, James Hepper
Slip casting is a process which both requires and celebrates the changing of material states. Adapted to earth based techniques in an evolving journey, each step leaves traces of its earthy imprint on the next. This resulted in a process of many stages and transformations of soil states, as we processed, cast and re-cast the earth back into itself. From compressed solidity, viscous liquid, porous cast form, to vitrified shell, the earth follows a dynamic and reciprocal dialogue with itself: of positive to negative to positive. Each stage sought to engage with the soil as a living system, as we opened ourselves to be led by the properties, behaviours, and desires of the soil to create its own forms.