Epiploic cube part four

One of the things I wanted to do with this piece was to hamper it's movement in some way. I had an idea of what was possible and in conversation with a friend and colleague Will Houstoun I realised that he could point me in the right direction! We spent a day with the mock-up model working out how each side related to the next and then applying ideas to it. Here we are looking at two methods of restricting its movement with straps and ribbons. I also wanted to add more surfaces that reveal themselves during the rotation and it was Will's knowledge of origami and kirigami that gave me the solution. The pale lavender side has folds and pockets usually found in pop-up books which can be seen in the images above and below.

  All of this then had then to be applied to the silk which has a different way of behaving than paper. I also had to incorporate other details to illustrate fragility and technical parallels to surgery! The result is a model that seems to have it's own life. You have to understand to what it wants to do through touch and let it tell you what it will do , rather like the old book I handled at the V&A.