Cóilín Ó Dubhghaill’s work looks at the intersection between traditional craft processes, new technologies and the appropriation of industrial technologies for craft production. He is a co-developer of mikana; a process that uses friction stir welding, first developed as an industrial welding method, to simultaneously bond and pattern decorative metals. This exquisite material, inspired by Japanese mokume gane, can be used to create products for jewellery, interiors and product design.
Tulipiere 16 (2018) is the first large-scale piece of decorative art to be produced that incorporates this mikana material. A handhammered and welded sterling silver base supports separate protrusions formed from flat sheets of copper and mikana. This work is part of a series that uses the form of a tulipiere vase as a starting point for a reflection on the relationship between object and value. These specialist ceramic vessels for growing and displaying single tulip bulbs originated in the ‘Tulip Mania’ which gripped the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. In remaking these symbols of wealth and status in sheet metal form, Tulipiere 16 explores the idea of excess with parallels to more recent economic bubbles. Inspired by desirable Chinese blue and white porcelain, these forms and their decoration links to Museums Sheffield’s decorative art collection.
The mikana material continues Sheffield’s long tradition of combining technology and industry with contemporary design and the decorative arts. Mikana has parallels in the development of old Sheffield plate in the 1700s, where sheets of copper and silver were bonded together in a metal sandwich to produce plated products for the growing middle-class market. This continued with the innovation of stainless steel in the early 1900s that revolutionised industry and the production of domestic tableware, cutlery and flatware. Museums Sheffield designated Metalwork Collection contains some of the most significant acquisitions of these materials and the additional of Tulipiere 16 brings this story up to date.
