I came up with this one several months ago. The design was okayed by the client and the deposit paid late last year.
At time of writing this post, the frame of the gate sits on my workbench. The internal parts are all drawn out in chalk. Everything is ready for me to begin making.
Whilst it is in my mind, I thought I’d share the thought processes that lead to the creation of this gate.
The location is always the most important factor for me when starting the design process. This particular gap that needs filling, is a tumbledown granite wall that separates the garden of an old farmhouse from the open meadow that spreads out beyond, high up on Dartmoor.
I felt that filling the lower and mid parts of the gate with grasses would look great, especially when viewed from the garden, with the wildflower meadow rising up and away from you. It will help the gate to provide a visual link between the two separate areas.
Everything will blend in together, with the organic shapes of the metalwork, mirroring the glimpses of grasses and wildflowers that fill the negative space.
When the Sun shines on the meadow, it will cast the metalworking in silhouette, pushing the gate forward, accentuating the outlines of those organic shapes.
I love the idea of the gate itself, transforming from a solid ordered man-made structure into a living organic form.
With this in mind, I designed the frame so that it goes from square bar transforming into round bar at the top, forming its own arch with branches and leaves, wrapping around and dropping back down to integrate with the grasses that rise up from the bottom.
I also love the feeling of going through a gate and out into the world beyond that sense that here is the start of an adventure.
The crow that sits on a branch near the top of the gate represents that feeling that you are now leaving the safety of home, that as you turn the latch and step through you are entering the wild, the uncivilised. He watches you with glittering eyes, ready to pick your bones if you should stumble.
This feels like a complete design. It should sit well in its intended location. Also there is a flow to the design, the grasses lead the eye upwards towards the crow on his branch and then up around the arch and back down into the centre.
That’s it just to give an idea of the thought process that goes into my designs. I’m looking forward to getting this one made and seeing it in situ, filling that gap, high up on the moor.