We’re extremely excited to have Lottie Smith (emerging UK artist and cardboard sculptor extraordinaire) creating for Makedo this year at the London Toy Fair.
While we eagerly await the reveal of her Makedo masterpiece, we went behind the scenes to get an exclusive interview about her inspirations and thoughts on reuse…
What was the first thing you ever made?
First thing I ever made was a cardboard revolver and spurs for a fancy-dress, I don’t like dressing up and I thought it would work as a distraction to the fact I was wearing a shirt and boots which I always wore anyway. It worked amazingly well.
About the same time I made a to-scale replica of a Roberts dab radio. They’re beautifully designed but they’re expensive commodities to own, this way if I squint a bit, imagine a colour and hum a tune, I can pretend I have one.
Some of Lottie’s cardboard creations:
Q. What object/thing have you repurposed for a different use?
I use a sock as a case for my iPhone.
Q. Where do you find inspiration for your next creation?
In the everyday.
I’m a big fan of simple ideas. An idea or piece of work doesn’t have to be complex, or have layers of meaning to work. I love work which has a element of play to it and I think that repurposing existing items or looking at things in an off-kilter way always seems to lead to a piece which has that feel, that raises a smile from the viewer. And for me that’ll do, I don’t need to start a revolution.
At a risk of sounding cliché it really is about finding the beauty in the banal. A compass is just a compass. I’ve had the same one since starting high school, its always on my desk, never thought about it much, but make it a meter high and all those little features and movements become a lot more interesting.
That element of movement encourages interaction and that interaction is a major source of inspiration for me. I’ve found myself considering it more and more as my work has progressed, finding ways of forcing people to join in and play as so often people look at art with a look but don’t touch attitude. I don’t consider my work ‘art’ as such, they’re just an object to be enjoyed and not revered, after all it’s just the box that book you bought came wrapped in.
When you’re 5 you look at a box and you see a rocket, or you look at your bike and see an F1 car and for me it’s all about remembering that. I heard an interview with Roald Dahl when I was a kid and in it he answered the question of his age and included the half, he was in his early 70s, and he still counted that half. I hope when I’m 70 I still see that rocket in an empty box.
Some of Lottie’s inspiration:
Q. What are your favourite 3 blogs right now?
These aren’t blogs I know but they are in my most frequently visited for inspiration.
www.ted.com
E.g. Theo Jansen’s wind powered walking creatures.
www.twitter.com
Following a lot of creative, design agencies and of course bloggers means you get all sorts of links and inspiration from all sorts of places.
www.reddit.com
Weird one I know but you get some beautiful photos and creations from folk who aren’t ‘artists’ and therefore you wouldn’t find elsewhere.
And if it is blogs you’re after these are a few I’ve been going back to for years:
www.itsnicethat.com
www.booooooom.com
agency.ycnonline.com/blog
Q. Reuse is a big trend in design, where do you think it’s heading?
I studied illustration at university and I remember a lecturer talking about how illustration and traditional animation/stop motion was having a revival within commercial art and advertising. You’re a lot more likely to see something hand drawn now than in the 1990s where computer generated stuff kind of took over for a while.
I think reuse is part of this same movement, and for me it’s got to do with seeing the hand behind the work, the fact it’s obviously not a computer or production line that made it. It’s about seeing the humanity behind the poster or the advert or object.
As for where it’s going; on a worldwide scale there has been growing interest for years in recycling, reducing waste and trying to be as eco friendly as you can, so I don’t see the trend going anywhere anytime soon.
Reuse has endless potential, I just make things out of empty boxes, If you’d like to see an example way up the other end of the scale then google Dan Phillips and the amazing houses he makes entirely from reclaimed items. Truly incredible.
Q. What do you like most about working with Makedo parts?
The ease and strength of attaching different types of material together in a way that’s either impossible or longwinded using glue or tape.
I found the simplicity and speed of how this is done conducive to a lot of experimentation. I wish I’d more time to play before my robot had to be shipped off!
To wrap things up, here is a sneak preview of Lottie’s Makedo creation for upcoming London Toy Fair:
You can check out more of Lottie’s work on her website.
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