Riveted

January 31, 2005

Stopped in traffic one morning I glanced to my left and spied this rig next to me. Now I'd always appreciated the strips of reflective safety stickers that large trucks use on their bumpers and containers, but there was something about the pairing of these red/white horizontals and the chunky bolts that seemed very painterly. There was a compositional structure to the bit of container parked next to me: in the way that the horizontal lines created bands to contain the hardware and in the way that the bolts staggered and alternated their spacing. I assumed that aesthetics was not the driving force behind the structural choices on this truck, but in some ways that made the presence of compositional balance all the more profound, because then the truck became another example of beauty as a by-product of successfully designed utility. In other words, the single minded focus on functionality, and the successful realization of this focus, automatically yielded an object of aesthetic beauty.

This idea is quite dear to the contemporary craft and design world. It dominated many theory classes that I had at the Oregon College of Art & Craft (OCAC) and had a profound impact of a number of my friends at school. In fact, I suspect that the metal hull of the truck next to me initially caught by eye because of its similarity to the thesis work of Ben Ediger, who also had graduated in 2003. Even from the first days of school, Ben had always possessed an uncanny eye for the sublime in the functional. His thesis work was a series of tables created from bent-plywood forms wrapped with riveted sheet metal and given a distressed finish.

Ben Ediger, O/U #1, 2003

plywood, aluminum sheet metal, rivets, milk paint, lacquer

17" x 16" x 48"

Photo: Robert Di Franco

These tables continue to be some of the finest crafted objects I've ever encountered personally. Their purpose is obvious and their use quite intuitive. I hardly need to point out his meticulous attention to detail in both form and finish. They are part of the very reasonable argument against mass production and institutional design. Having recently photographed much of Ben's new work I can also state that these tables are just the beginning to an oeuvre which boldly asserts his commitment to functional aesthetics.

Ben Ediger, O.U.T. #1, 2003

plywood, aluminum sheet metal, rivets, milk paint, lacquer

17" x 16" x 48"

Photo: Robert Di Franco