Day Seven (David)

After taking a day off on day five, and spending day six travelling to Munich from Amsterdam, on day seven, we visited Helen Britton and David Beilander in their studio. I remembered some of their work from when they visited us in Sydney, but I was fascinated to see it in person. I particularly like the way David works. To hear him say that he decides: “ I want to make a snake,” and then the technical details, the materials and how he makes it are decided from there (often over the course of a year or so) was very refreshing. Whilst his work is technically extraordinary, it is wonderful to see that this is not for its own sake, it is driven by the fact of what he has chosen to make and what he wants to achieve with it. His technical skill is demonstrated, but not shown off, and usually achieves some auxiliary aim, for example every one of the snake neckpieces he makes will move in a marvellously reptilian fashion, as the wearer wraps it around their neck, even though they are really just a strip of metal coiled around itself.