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CommunicationUnderstanding ConnectionCompassionLovePeace01

Communication02PeaceLoveCompassionConnectionUnderstanding

03IntroductionI was invited in 2009 to create a piece for an art exhibition entitled roundabout which broughttogether 108 artists from New Zealand and around the world. At the heart of the show and woven through Martin Luther King Jnr; ‘I have decided to stick with love, hate is too great a burden to bear’written in 1968 at the height of turbulent times in the United States.I set out to create a piece that would bring people together, a place to connect and shareto include language and somehow integrate the beautiful text into their pieces.Justice. Communication in all its forms is the reason we fall on one side or the other of the love/hate knife edge.I decided to build the piece from Walnut and darkened steel, materials traditionally used to buildweapons used instead to make something with the opposite reason for being.perhaps a collaborative approach to decipher its meaning.

04I decided to use Braille. A form of communication we all recognize but most of us cannot read. Iwas fascinated to learn that Braille came into being through a collaboration between the youngLouis Braille, blinded in an accident in his father’s leather workshop, and Charles Barbier, one ofNapoleon’s captains who was tasked with the challenge of creating a form of night writing toTo put everyone, sighted or blind on the same footing, I altered the scale and indented rathertactility and endurance, was traditionally used to make the stocks of guns.Removal of any one stave would result in the entire structure failing.on a precision bearing.arranged so that the word love sat still and constant at the dead center of the complex revolvingsingle words to poems that infused the entire structure of pieces that included all manner of objects, from aclock made with my horologist father to a huge boardroom table and now to the purely expressive words in this book.

051821 Table

06Braille infused custom piece

07Text IBeginning

was inspired by a conversation with a dear friend and ex colleague on the hottest day in London’s history in 2022. It was written on the train from London to York the following day.and evolution from making objects of utility to objects whose sole purpose is to convey deeply personal messages.Beginning speaks of the awakening and decision to start making and memories of people, places and experiences I hold most dear.08

09Balance I Brass and Walnut 600 x 600 x 55 mm1 of 12023

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Brass and Walnut 900 x 900 x 60 mm1 of 1202311Balance II

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13Balance III Brass and Walnut 600 Diameter x 55 mm1 of 12023

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15Balance IV Brass and Walnut 900 Diameter x 60 mm1 of 12023

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17Home V Steel and Walnut 600 x 600 x 55 mm1 of 12023

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19Home VI Steel and Walnut 900 x 900 x 60 mm1 of 12023

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Balance VII Steel and Walnut 600 Diameter x 55 mm1 of 1202321

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23Balance VIII Steel and Walnut 900 Diameter x 60 mm1 of 12023

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25Beginning IX Solid Walnut 600 x 600 x 55 mm 1 of 12023

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27Beginning X Solid Walnut 900 x 900 x 60 mm 1 of 12023

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29Beginning XI Solid Walnut 600 Diameter x 55 mm 1 of 12023

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31Beginning XII Solid Walnut 900 Diameter x 60 mm 1 of 12023

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33Text number IIHome

the pond, I was overwhelmed by a realization that I have two homes. my family, and friends. my way to who knew where.I began to grow again, became a husband and a father, grew new roots and learned new ways to live and be. My purpose and creative potential found fertile soil here in Aotearoa voice and share it with the world.34

35Text number IIIBalance

During this time I was increasingly drawn to projects where utility, In 2022 I committed to start making purely expressive works that would hang on walls, the vertical realm of what is generally considered ‘art’.myself as an artist? What will everyone think? Is the work good enough? Will people like it? Will anyone want to hang it ontheir wall? Does anyone even care what I have to say?the words we so dearly want to speak, stop us sharing the things we believe and care about, our truths that we could, should and ought toshare.creativity slumbers, slipping in and out of restless dreams of what could be if we just let go.Unlike the words of Beginning and Home that spilled out of me 36

37BeginningWhy I do this, What I care about. What I want and need to say, To share connect and inspire. Find my voice. 

HomeHome where my bones are from, Raised me. Into its natural rhythm. Home again in another land far away From my beginning. A new place of nurture for my body And soul. A haven of peace, joy and discovery for My own family.Gratitude for my places of belonging And a growing awareness that the Welcoming light of our hearts’ home is Received in even the briefest moments 38

BalanceHesitant to to return to the stage,As if onto wet ice, unsure it will hold Me.Solid boards under my feet but a rope.Applause and heckling greet me.Unnerving periods of silent stillness Test my balance.I inch forward feeling naked in the Spotlight. Focusing inwards, noticing my Movements in response to the gentle Sway of the rope. Just inches above the stage.39

40He studied Fine Cabinet Making then Industrial Design before spending a decade in London working alongside David Linley (now Snowdon) creating extraordinary custom furniture.2002 establishing his own practice Cruikshank the following year focusing on the creation of timeless enduring furniture and objects.Since 2010 his work has featured embedded text, predominantly expressed in a pierced version of Braille.