My little haven, a secret little hotel/studio style house that have been going since about the 17th Century, reclaimed and renovated mid 2000′s. It’s just a magical place. The entrance to the accomodation was through the middle house, you step straight back in time to your own little village.
In northern greece and the Zagoria villages, Papingo was mountains, mountains, mountains, my favoutrite kind of landscape. If you can drive through the wild goat population just hanging out on the windy roads up to Megalo Papingo then you’ll have got through your first challenge.
The second is being able to see where the hell your driving when fog comes down thick and fast. It’s pretty scary driving in a 25 year old Volvo station wagon at 45degree angled roads, but we lived to tell the tale and find the most magical little hotel/village to stay in. This place had landscape that seemed to be out of a science fiction movie. Cracked, crumbled earth; layers of molten rock frozen in time. Drive any direction and you feel like your in the middle of the earth. It really looks like it was molten at some point, then cooled really quickly and snapped into little/big rock pieces, all still crunched together. Translating the scale in a photo is hard to get..
We came across a section of the track about half way into the walk. There is a whole area that you stumble through, completely taken over by these gorgeous little sculptures of stacked rocks. I’ve nick named them ‘the people’s rocks’. Every surface is covered, there are hundreds of stacks. Of course you have to add your own creation. And so I was inspired to make a collection of rings and bracelets that captured the spirit of this place. I’ve attached an image of the stack my partner made. Its the last image of the stack of rocks on the big fallen tree.
This place is just spectacular! None of my photos do it justice at all. This was a six hour treck down the mountainous valley to the ocean on the western side of Crete. It’s an 18km tramp, downhill all the way. i was waiting to find a hobbit at every turn, it was really like trekking through Middleearth from Lord of The rings. It ends at Agia Roumeli, where I threw myself into the ocean to calm my very blistered feet. You practically crawl out of the sea again to rest at one of the tavernas there until the boat turns up to take you back to the main roads. I’ve included some photos, but they aren’t as spectacular as the real thing. You get the idea though.
Work has started to come about. It took a few goes and a few more prototypes before I was happy with this collection that started to create itself. It was at least two to three months before I really got into the style and feel of the work. These rings are very structured, taking inspiration from the split rock formations on the island. My work is generally very organic, but this work has been quite geometric in form. I don’t mind, you have to venture into new areas of making and style and continue to explore new avenues. I still like working with my metal though. All of these pieces are made in 925 silver and treated with black rhodium.
The construction method are hollow pieces soldered together, there’s at least three pieces to every ring.
I draw a lot before I start any work. I sometimes do mock-ups in metal or cardboard, it depends what it is. Its another way of bringing into form the idea I have swirling around in my brain. Sometimes I might be lucky and the piece just makes itself without any effort. It took a while before I got the feel and look I was after. It’s hard to photograph drawings, they look better in real life. This is the prototype ring I started to work with.
I woke up to this view and watched the famous sun set over the Caldera. In the distance on the right hand side is Nea Kameni, the active volcanic part of the island. The rocks are as black as black. We travelled to the middle of the Caldera in this ship. Old fashioned and very fun. I love an old ship, so romantic. On the way back we were treated to Tequila shots at the end of the trip with the crew. Greek hospitality, you can’t go past it. The last pic is in the centre of Nea Kameni where the active part of the volcano is. The rancid smells of sulphur hang in the air, ummm lovely.
