About the Artists |
Originally from a theatre and fine arts background, Viki and Richard wanted to explore the tension between artifice and nature, and moved from installation work to land art to metalwork sculpture.
Like many artists before, much of their work has included reclaimed materials, and while sourcing materials for a series of figurative sculptures addressing car - dependency they became fascinated by the creative potential offered by scrap metal; the beauty of shape and texture which an industrial society overlooks. The resolution of incorporating sculptural and functional concerns, with their continued interest in environmental art, was a desire to create furniture and sculpture which not only complements and enhances the landscape into which it is placed, but also provokes thought, pleasing the mind as well as the eye.
At the beginning of 1999 they began to employ some of the traditional skills of blacksmithing, and introduced a series of three benches and a table, drawn in part from designs formulated through their work with scrap. For the first time they were able to repeat work and their range was immediately chosen for inclusion in the largest show garden at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, the Citroen Garden, designed by David Stevens (International), one of the UK's most creative and established garden designers.
In 2000 they designed the furniture for David Stevens' B&Q Chelsea Flower Show Garden, and their touring exhibition, "Fusion", commissioned by Oriel Myrddin in Carmarthen, became the first to run for three years and include shows in England. One of their first hybrid benches was bought by The British Council for inclusion in the British Council / Craftspace Touring exhibition "Reclaimed" which toured Egypt, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.