A disassembled piano is a beautiful and intriguing thing - or pile of things. Hundreds of components that enable the same thing to happen in 88 different ways and ways of modifying those 88 ways. There are single items, the frame, pin block, and soundboard, for example but it’s the number of duplicated parts that compromise the 88-times repeated mechanisms that is striking. There is something compelling about the repetition of so many wooden components linked and hinged with wire and punctuated with coloured felt. It’s quite easy, given the right frame of mind, to spend a fair bit of time digging through these parts, turning them over in my hand, and imagining what might be done with them.

The invitation from The Piano Shop Bath to make something of what, as lower grade components and piano parts uneconomical to repair, would be discarded by their workshop was attractive. It appealed to my sense of re-using, making good, and recontexualising. But as the pile of stuff sat in the studio waiting for it and me to have a meaningful exchange as I went about other work the more I realised the problem was, for me, much of the stuff already had its own voice. The keys, hammers, levers, and castors had their own presence and I didn’t want to rely too heavily on that. I wanted to remove some of the recognisability of what I had been given; to make something less immediately made of piano parts but still absolutely of the piano.

Every piece in our Played & Remade collection is individually handcrafted from recycled piano materials. Each work carries its own character and story; for bespoke pricing and purchase details, we invite you to contact us directly.

PRICE: POA