Craig Ashton, Connections (FURNITURE 2025)

Photos:

Richard Harmey

Country

Australia

Connections, through trial and error are components designed to utilise timber offcuts and streamline the making of coffee tables, plinths, and dining tables. Using the age-old lost wax process to cast the bronze, each component is then filed and buffed, leaving slight facets and inclusions that create details which are both unique and individual, serving as a point of conversation. This is an ongoing exploration into creating idiosyncratic components for both furniture and functional objects using lost wax casting. The process of bronze casting can be time consuming, the bronze components in the table are produced by creating a master pattern which was drawn to scale 1:1, working out the angles, assembling and hand shaping. The pattern is then used to create a mould out of silicon rubber and plaster. Wax is then poured into the mould to create an identical shape, sprues are attached and then is invested into a mixture of sand and plaster left to set, placed in a kiln to melt wax out of mould, bronze is then poured into create a bronze facsimile.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.