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Conceptual Tools series by Tim Holmes |
 Cloud Clipper, steel and cotton An indoor wind generator |  Air Knife, steel, polyester, 3 x 6 feet A tool for slicing the air It is some transcendent thing that aesthetically separates the cathedral from the office tower, the clipper ship from the freighter, the violin from the synthesizer. As technology improves, it demands greater practicality, always at the expense of aesthetics. †
I
was living in London when I became aware of the measure of loss of
aesthetic detail to our world. In that city particularly, the beauty in
the buildings, machines and everyday objects seemed commensurate with
their age. This was more than simple nostalgia. I began to take notes
of some of the more beautiful aspects of contemporary production that I
thought would be lost to future pragmatism, such things as the rounded
corners on city buses, the rows of tiny panes that made up phone booth
windows, even the design of wheels. These
considerations set me on the long journey that has brought me to this
series, an exploration into the aesthetics inherent in low-tech tools.
(The "tools" in this series are intentionally designed for impractical
purposes.) I have found the beauty of such tools to be most intense at
the intersection of three vitalities: 1: a respect for materials used
at the extended range of their physical capacities; 2. A respect for
the forces of nature; and 3. The joy of creation. My theory is that any
tool created with these qualities in mind will be an object of beauty.
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 Celestial Pointer, steel, bronze, wire A tool for pointing to any place in the sky. |   Cloud Cutter II and Breathmill 0, steel, and polyester Tools for catching indoor air currents |
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