TERRAIN TABLE
2010.
American black walnut. 370mm diam. x 500mm h.,
MERGING CRAFT AND TECHNOLOGY
Designed by combining traditional paper modelling and digital 3D modelling techniques, this work demonstrates a sustainable approach to manufacturing with timber. Terrain also builds upon the language of the occasional timber side table/seat most famously originating from the traditional African stool, then referenced by the Eames, and now re-interpreted again for the digital age.
Acquired by the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 2011 for their permanent collection.
“Linking all of Forlano’s forms is a focus on aesthetic elegance, lightness and ease of use. With this in mind, her works are not intended as monumental statements, but objects to be lived with and around... (Terrain) was made as a homage to the work of iconic modern designers Charles and Ray Eames. It employs the same scale and material as the Eames’s now famous Walnut stool 1960… Despite these references and intentions, Forlano’s table is her own; the angles of the wood create an intensely dynamic form.”
“Forlano’s Terrain table provides an excellent update of technological interaction with natural materials and the good that can come of such meetings. The table has been modelled on paper and then 3D Computer-Aided-Design, computer cut and hand-assembled. Technology of the moment has been instrumental in the process, yet the material retains a significant presence. Instead of pulling at each other, the dichotomies of the natural source and the scientific interaction with it creates an ideal union.”