Andrew Scott

These pieces were made from discarded cooking oil drums collected from neighborhood chip shops and other scrap steel. I'd get the empty drums, clean them and cut them into strips which I could bend and weld together into volumes. I was drawn to how this normally weak material could be transformed into a sturdy, load bearing volume which can function as an element of a piece of furniture.

Questioning where I am sourcing my materials from is very important to me as a maker and with a keen and curious eye in my surroundings I am able to find and work with a material which is functional can be given a second, more long lasting life. Because there is a back and forth between it and myself, this making process utilizing found materials often yields more interesting results than if I were to have used the standardized, store bought alternative.

I continued with my investigation of this material but focusing on the lamp as an object. I was drawn to the potential of this object more than others to be able to move, become animated, and stretch and reach implausibly across a space. Carefully created but simple mechanisms are used in the lamps' construction which enable them to balance, cantilever, and be easily adjusted. Instead of relying on global supply chains and standardized, dimensional material I tapped into the material streams in my immediate surroundings to create these lamps. I gathered discarded cooking oil barrels and other scrap steel, branches from the park and various plastics from the local market.

Through different processes of making I am able to both transform the materials as well as work with their inherent properties and tendencies in a type of give and take. Instead of using hardware to keep the lamps in place I am taking advantage of forces like gravity and friction to allow the pieces to move freely when adjusted and to stay in position when they are set.

"An object can only be good for someone. Its "goodness" is not essential to it, but rather arises through the relationships that it brings into being. Thus the real test of an object's worth lies not in its efficiency, novelty, or even beauty (which in any case, is in the eye of the beholder), but whether it gives us a sense of our shared humanity." -

Glenn Adamson

A series of playable instruments from waste and overlooked materials and objects from my surroundings. In collaboration with composer Hangrui Zhang and other musicians from the Royal college of music where original compositions and movements are created and played using these instruments which I design and construct. I also ran workshops which showed how some of the instruments can be made using commonly found objects and materials.

With this project I am hoping to draw attention to what we consider to be trash and showing how we are surrounded everyday by an overlooked and material landscape that not only can be put to use again but can be used to bring about joy, wonder and a sense of togetherness.