Thursday 11 October 2012

Coat Rack



Archetypes are an interesting phenomena. Psychologists believe that there are certain universal characteristics that all human beings share....such as fear of the dark, snakes etc. It is believed that these "archetypes" have become part of our DNA and are not as a result of environment or upbringing....this is what makes these "feelings" universal.   The interesting thing is that not all archetypes are negative. Some, called "fractals" are the reasons that we as humans tend to feel better about certain shapes and configurations. The branching tree is one such fractal. It is a universal "feel good" shape.

While exploring this concept, I found a vintage "Conoco" oil can with incredible patina at a local antique store. I thought that it would make a wonderful base for a fractal coat rack. Enlisting the skills of iron artist Andrew Bibby, I asked him if he would design and build a hand forged tree using the oil can base. The results as you can see are quite spectacular.

From a technical point of view, Andrew designed the coat rack to easily disassemble without tools. For stability, the oil can can be filled with sand providing weight. So... this coat rack not only looks great, but it works well...form and function.

Unique, universally appealing, and a very functional coat rack. How does it get better?