We've just begun work on a large residential project in Kuala Lumpur and I've attached some images of the model below. The sculpture was made with some crazy crepe paper that I found years ago. It's from Germany and there is nothing else like it. People use it for wrapping and so it has all these terrible patterns. Of course, I want it plain and white, so nobody imports it and my stock is dwindling. Robust and pliable, this paper has excellent modeling properties when wanting to make asymmetrical biomorphic shapes where stretch and twist are essential. And, as is usually the case in my work, the model materials suggest certain kinds of forms. More precisely, the paper wants to do some things and not others. So in an effort to make the most compelling design, the final models often express the best possibilities of that paper. And this particular modeled sculpture is so sensual and the tonal differences in all those layered petals give such a sense of depth that we now have to figure out how to make glass that looks like paper. And if you're a glass guy, the paper suggests improbable things. Ones you didn't imagine you could make with the tools you've got or that you thought the material couldn't render. This is good because it forces us to think about how to make what we want rather than how to make what we can. It also gets us into some very interesting and some very troublesome situations. I can't say we always nail it, but I can say that we don't repeat our work and that it's always a challenge.
- View with the jungle to the right and the courtyard to the left.
This is a view from underneath looking upwards.
