Made By Hand

Posted by Doris Jurzak, Sienna

As emerging designer/makers we’re taught to use many tools and machines to transform our design ideas into physical objects. All of these processes require our hands; undoubtedly our most important tools.

While our hands have become more important during the last three years, they’ve also become far less attractive. We often comment about how awful they’re looking and minor cuts and scrapes usually don’t even rate an ‘ouch’ anymore…though we might stop for a bandaid if we’re working with a material that we don’t want to bleed on. Manicures don’t rate a mention at all.

There are plenty of things in the workshop which contribute to the mistreatment of our phalanges ... emery paper, sawblades, burs, polishing wheels, scotchbrite, pumice, hammers, vices, torches, metal, acetone, diluted acids, the incessant hand-washing with gritty solvol soap…not to mention the more perilous bandsaws, guillotines and lathes; a whole new level of phalanges mistreatment which we avoid with extreme OH&S vigilance.

So while our hands may not be the most beautiful in the world, we’ve certainly been doing our best to make beautiful things with them. Here are some of our hands…to see what they’ve made, our end-of-year exhibition runs from 1 December to 5 December at Depot Galleries I and II, Danks Street Waterloo. Please come and take a look.