CANARY WHARF WALL HANGING
The client’s main reason for purchasing this Canary Wharf apartment was the view of the river; therefore we decided to augment this by continuing the meandering rhythm of the Thames and in so doing bringing something of the outside to the inside. In the centre of the master bedroom was a rotating bed. At a right angle to the picture window is a floor to ceiling mirror. Any curve we created on the two remaining walls would be expanded by its complete reflection in the mirror thereby creating a ‘wrap around’ effect.
Aesthetically, we have always enjoyed working with contrasting elements, in this case the broad rectilinear outer shape and the narrow curvilinear inner form. They both enter into a kind of undulating dance (which would be experienced literally as the bed turned) with one shape rising when the other falls and vice versa. They also gradate from dark to light in opposite directions. This created a kind of void in the centre were both shapes attained a neutral mid-tone. As this area was pivotal we felt that there should be a strong focal point to punctuate the space here, but what? As there was a narrative influence to the piece we did not wish to depart into pure abstraction. We dwelt on this for some time, then on our first night-time visit to the premises we witnessed Ron Arad’s luminescent red wand which was situated on the riverbank directly below the apartment. This answered our problem in many ways – What better to complement the horizontal broad green hanging than a narrow vertical strip in red and at the same time we would be paying respect to a fellow artist.