“Book paper and steel are perceived differently and placed in different contexts in our lives. The book is appreciated as an object of education, growth, and escape. Steel, on the other hand, does not trigger such lofty associations and, moreover, is often invisible, even though it is a primary element of our constructed environment.

I strive to overcome the disparate perceptions of the materials and level the playing field between them by combining them in constructions in which they complement each other and play equally important roles. This results in what I hope are formally and aesthetically intriguing objects but also in an awareness of how seeming opposites can work together, in this case by exploring and exploiting unexpected features that they share, such as flexibility, history, mass and density.

The process and results will, I hope, do what art is supposed to do: make us think, challenge preconceived notions and see new and surprising possibilities.”

ANDREW HAYES