ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS STAY
2021
Bells, chimes and tree
Bells, chimes and tree
This tree forms the foundation of the sound and movement piece ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS STAY, which is an exploration of disorder through music.
The repeated but unsystematic tinkling of its chimes references Roman philosopher Pliny’s hypothesis that the constant rotation and movement of the air, the earth and the planets in different directions emits a ‘sweet harmonious music’.
It also references the celebrated verses from the Bible’s Corinthians I, that remind us of an ancient definition of chaos: ‘If I have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. If I have not love, I gain nothing’.
The chimes in the tree were made in collaboration with maker Corin Mellor of David Mellor Design, based in Hathersage, Derbyshire. Following extensive research, Corin and his team designed a slender form with large sails that catch the wind. This design was then produced in Hathersage and anodised in Sheffield.
The repeated but unsystematic tinkling of its chimes references Roman philosopher Pliny’s hypothesis that the constant rotation and movement of the air, the earth and the planets in different directions emits a ‘sweet harmonious music’.
It also references the celebrated verses from the Bible’s Corinthians I, that remind us of an ancient definition of chaos: ‘If I have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. If I have not love, I gain nothing’.
The chimes in the tree were made in collaboration with maker Corin Mellor of David Mellor Design, based in Hathersage, Derbyshire. Following extensive research, Corin and his team designed a slender form with large sails that catch the wind. This design was then produced in Hathersage and anodised in Sheffield.
My grandfather was a metalworker, my father was a metalworker, so metal has inevitably always been my material of choice.
The image of the windchime in most people’s mind is a small cluster of tubes of differing lengths. They’ve earned themselves the reputation of being a little ‘naff’ and often associated with suburbia. I wanted to create a design which was distinctive in itself but also had a musical reference. Cathedral organ pipes were my inspiration but I very much liked the idea of distinct singular pieces in a variety of sizes.
The choice of aluminium as a material came from extensive research as it has a particularly good resonance when combined with the optimum wall thickness and length.
The chimes were made in our cutlery factory by our skilled team of cutlers, which perhaps gave them a refreshing change from making tea spoons. Sawing, filing, turning, drilling, de-burring, and finishing techniques were all employed in the making of the chimes. Finally, the chimes were then anodised in a range of autumnal colours.
Corin Mellor
Creative Director, David Mellor Design Ltd.
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Born in Sheffield in 1966, Corin is the son of renowned designer-silversmith David Mellor CBE and cultural historian Fiona MacCarthy OBE. He trained as a product designer at Kingston University and started his career working for the London architects YRM before joining his father as a designer-craftsman at his company, David Mellor Design.
Since taking over the reins as Creative Director in 2006, he has built on his father’s legacy by designing new ranges of cutlery and kitchen knives as well as developing and designing David Mellor products in completely new areas, like fine bone china tableware, glassware and wooden kitchen accessories. Beyond the products, he has drawn on his architectural background to create the shops themselves, designing the interior of the David Mellor Design Museum and Café at the site in Derbyshire, and the interiors for the new David Mellor shop in Marylebone, which opened in 2017. As well as steering and expanding the repertoire of the family business, Corin has carried out a number of significant public and private design commissions. Corin is married to photographer and art director Helen Mellor. They live in Derbyshire, by the Design Museum and factory and spend their time between there and the two London shops. |