Multiple types and thicknesses of traditionally made natural ropes have been combined with steel, brass and copper to create a piece which gives a sense of traditional shipbuilding. Woven together to show how interdependent these materials would have been, and inspired by the complex rope rigging criss-crossing large historic wooden ships. Left outside to weather; the steel rusting, the copper and brass developing a greenish verdigris patina, the aged appearance as if out to sea braving the harsh ocean elements.

Shipbuilding used to be one of UK’s great strengths, the British Royal Navy was the largest in the world. I made this piece to celebrate our historic shipbuilding skills, now mostly forgotten apart from a few pockets of knowledge kept alive by specialist workers.