Art academy teaches you to develop and formulate your own expertise. Imagine a whole class, all briefed with the same assignment but in the end all totally different outcomes, each relating to the subject in their own way. The emphasis is on developing your own handwriting and the more you understand this about yourself the stronger your signature will become.
In between a raw material and a finished product is the area in which I like to operate most. Taking steps back in established ways of using a material and reinventing it for new use or for new aesthetic values is fundamental in my work.
Pressed Postcards
In the context of designing a souvenir for a specific area in Rotterdam, the industrial area of Nieuw- Mathenesse caught my attention. Because areas like these play such an important role within the city of Rotterdam, I thought it would be nice to highlight this area as a hotspot for tourists as well.
Tourists can press their own postcards in metal in this area. This way they can experience working here and making something themselves. The souvenir is the experience of making the postcards and then sending it to someone you care for at home.
Playing with Forces of Nature
In collaboration with Sanne Littooij
Exploring the invisible part of the electromagnetic spectrum Sanne and I were more triggered by an analogue approach towards the subject. We wanted to show one of the first invisible currents mankind has benefitted from: the invisible force of magnetism.
Two magnets that attract each other are fixt on a cord, leaving a small space in between. By turning the wheel the magnets follow each other along the canvas, maintaining the small gap. This seemingly impossible setup suggests for an invisible force and allows you to play with it.
Intersections
Where two incongruent planes or volumes intersect, a gap arises, and a new shape emerges. The gap is an aggregation of forms, whereby the two intersecting objects define the physical format of the new shape and its esthetical value.
Inspired by the graphical abstraction of this new shape, I expanded the idea and accordingly designed 3-D functional objects by extrusion: a room divider, consisting of two planar volumes that leave a narrow gap where they intersect, and a bench composed of two one-sided curving volumes secluding a crescent-shaped empty space between them. The focus gradually shifts towards the empty space rather than the object, creating an interesting feature.
Curious about other projects Tim is working on now? Visit his website.
