Scottish designer Naomi Mcintosh combines her experiences of architecture and design, both of which she has degrees in, to create manipulated surfaces and sculptural objects.
Producing what she calls ‘wearable drawings’ up in the Scottish highlands, Naomi transforms flat 2-D lines into carefully crafted 3-D forms using cut and fold techniques. Having spotted her beautiful work at the Scottish Craft and Design Pavilion at the London Design Fair, we finally had chance to find out more about the designer and her work.
"Paper, a scalpel and drawings / images taken from observations. I have an obsessive love of repetition and pattern so make constant observations through photos and line drawings. I then make test structures, which then cover my studio walls. I have a haptic way of working particularly when thinking about jewellery and considering the relationship between the body and objects."
"Paper (with wood a very close second). When working with paper I am interested in the subtle qualities that can be achieved and the changes in these qualities with movement. The material can be a contradiction of strength and fragility. When cut into small elements, in my jewellery and objects, there is an ambiguity about what the material is. When working in wood, the geometric structures are enhanced by the grain and there is always serendipity."
"I love the variety in the projects that I do and believe that everything is connected, one thing leading to another – so I was really proud to collaborate with Thrishantha Nanayakkara and Les Bicknell as part of a project with the Craft Council and Kings College London. Thrishantha is a senior lecturer in informatics and Les is a book artist.
"We wanted to explore the possibilities of 'making' in soft robotics, and did that through making hundreds of paper models that created reformamble and deformable structures. This has then led to a new group of work of paper structures that I have made. It was a privilege to be part of this project as it showcased the power of making and approached making from another perspective, for me, highlighting the importance of collaboration and interdisciplinary working."
"There is no one project that I consider in that way. I am excited and celebrate individuality and how creativity is used in different ways and across disciplines, and how there are endless and unique approaches to craft, making, materials, processes and scale."
"Exploring work in a variety of scales. I am about to launch a new tessellating wood jewellery collection and am working on a collaborative installation project in Thailand next month. The project has been organised by the British Council Thailand and uses recycled metal, and woven bamboo. It is wonderful as it feels like a scaled up version of a piece of jewellery, so very excited to see it installed."
You can see more of Naomi's work and keep up-to-date with her projects here .
