‘I have a set of silverware made by an eighteenth century silverworker called Hester Bateman, one of the very few women working in flatware at that time. When I eat with her spoons, I feel the work and the satisfaction that went into making them – the handle and bowl are in equal balance – and I feel a part of time as it really is – not chopped into little bits, but continuous. She made this beautiful thing, it’s still here, and I am here too, writing my books, eating my soup, two women making things across time. I feel connection, respect, delight. And it is just a spoon…’
Have been thinking about the experience of making things, the lovely thought above and the notion of working in bronze:
“it becomes permanent….you can take a thought that has occurred to the artist
and it’s still there a thousand years later
you just have to make sure that it’s a good thought”
I wonder how it might affect the things we make, or cause to have made, if we held the responsibility of causing delight for a thousand years front and centre?
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