Inkteriors: 'PLYWOOD PIECES'

My Work

Mar 8

Written By Samantha Barnes

When working on projects, we artists have no idea what we might end up making. The story unfolds as it will, our job is to immerse ourselves in the making and follow the interest that pulls us along, like the proverbial donkey and carrot.

Sometimes, wonderful things happen, more often we hit cul-de-sacs and turn back to where we were before we took the turn.

But sometimes, magical things unfold, as this did for me…

As you know, I’m all about drawing. Line and Mark-making are my bag. Inkteriors came about after making drawings in my sketchbook during our collective lockdowns. Cooking, boiling, chopping, and baking my way through my pandemic anxieties led me to a new found appreciation of the tools and utensils in my kitchen.

Taking those initial ideas of offering the tools some appreciation, a little space, and a large slathering of love in the form of individual drawings to hang in our kitchens. I’m utterly delighted at how well the collection is doing.

My drawings are now being stocked in BEAUTIFUL, stylish home and lifestyle stores around the country, shops and businesses I’ve coveted for years such as Tea & Kate, Map Stores, Vanil and most recently, Southwood Living have given me a HUGE boost.

Yet I recognise that a collection needs to be furthered. New works, new ideas (new lines to put in a retail term) need to be added to projects.

We get to these by thinking outside of the box, and trying new and seemingly bonkers ideas.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to my local hardware store and left £300 down on materials that I thought might help me.

I bought a workbench, a jigsaw, a mouse-sander and two huge pieces of plywood for no other reason than I thought I could bring these items into the Inkteriors collection, how? I Had no idea until I started to lose myself in the studio.