Sketchbook Moment No. 35

Inspirational Architecture:
Yes we cantilever

At Home with Automata

We had a chat about collecting contemporary automata with TV personality and interior designer, Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen today. Read more

Fi Henshall

We are delighted to offer some pieces from a new artist, Fi Henshall, a sculpture graduate from Falmouth College of Arts in Cornwall.

Fi was inspired by childhood visits to CMT in Covent Garden, and more recently by automata/machine maker Rob Higgs, whose attitude to making things convinced her that anything is possible. So she started to make automata, and was particularly attracted to it by the fact that, once made, they can be brought to life by anybody at the turn of a handle.

Fi enthuses about these new pieces, and says ‘The apparently idiosyncratic ways in which things can be made to move fascinates me. I enjoy the improbability of it all- even when I know something works, I find it hard to believe that the haphazard collection of cams and levers before me will really make something come to life. I work with a combination of materials as this stops me becoming too precious with any one of them, and ensures that I am always learning something new and discovering new things.’

Buy work from Fi Henshall in our online shop now:

Petits Fours £950

Liquorice Drops £295

Jack Daniels 1 £450

Sketchbook Moment No. 34

Swimming Model.

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Sketchbook Moment No. 33

Blump Blump
Heart in Mouth.

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Sketchbook Moment No. 32

Unsuitable for Children.

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Simon Tait’s Mews No.1

This is the first in a series of posts from the journalist Simon Tait. He will be musing on all things mechanical once a month.

The family way

How closely related are mechanical theatre and the latest generation of robots? Is the connection the art, the mechanics, the humour? Read more

Sketchbook Moment No. 31

The Unwritten Book.

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