A new collection of one-off sculptures, furniture and objects in a breadth of non-formal shapes and colours.
“I felt like a change was needed… I realised I had lost my originality and needed to go back to being playful again.”
Donna Wilson
Fired by a desire to return to the experimental roots of her working practice and to break the shackles of designing product typologies only suitable for small batch production, Donna Wilson laid out a blank sheet of paper and picked up a paintbrush.
Lovingly made by hand in several different kinds of wood, then slowly painted by brush, each piece in Abstract Assembly features a unique colour palette designed by Donna Wilson. Each piece is made with a set composition of shapes, held together using a blend of butterfly joints and other traditional woodworking technique.
"I started getting into more abstract shapes and started to draw some of those in water colours. I decided to interpret them by trying out a new medium, so I picked up some wooden blocks and did a lot of development making shapes and sculptures.”
Donna Wilson
Donna Wilson, whose knowledge and expertise is so deeply steeped in textile design, has approached working with wood in an almost two-dimensional way, asking this natural material to bend and flow in unexpected ways. The result is a curious collection of pieces that are both visually arresting and quietly composed.
As with much of her work, Donna’s palette and sensibility is strongly influenced by the natural world; from the pouring rain of her native Aberdeenshire to the deep hues of the North Sea, there is always something of the elements in her creative output.
Abstract Assembly is a collection that has allowed her to slow down and get more physically involved with the creation of her work again. Each piece takes time, the sanding, re-sanding, painting, gluing, all make for a meditative working process.
"To be creative you need some space."
Donna Wilson
It’s a collection of work that celebrates a sideways approach to both material and furniture typologies. Irreverent and playful, the pieces present new direction and energy from a creative practitioner in the bloom of a new era. Abstract Assembly is available exclusively at SCP in the UK.
Listen to Donna Wilson sharing the story of how Abstract Assembly came into being on our IGTV.
