Wooden bowls

Twenty five years ago, woodworking and woodturning in particular was mainly the business of the craftsmen who produced utilitarian pieces (bowls, platters, furniture pieces etc..). Since the 1960s however, many artists have used woodworking and have produced wonderful pieces of art. The pieces I have collected in my local op shops are not representative of such experimental and very sophisticated works but they too have something to say about the history of woodworking as an art form. 

The first three pieces might be the work of master designers or not but all were certainly created in the 1960s, during the postwar movement. Back then, only a handful of turners used wood lathe for art sake. If one word can represent this era in design it is ‘organic’. Organic design was at the core of the postwar movement. I believe the design of these bowls encapsulates the aim and purpose of this movement which has been described as an ‘harmonious organization of the parts within the whole, according to the structure, material and purpose’.

Organic designers took a humanistic approach, one that ‘considered people as its focal point and endeavoured to combine all the element of design into one unified whole derived from concepts laid down by nature’. For the price these bowls go in the op shops, it is probably worth reconsidering buying a copy from Ikea which founder, by the way, was a recruiter for a Swedish nazi group who maintained links with Nazi sympathizers well after World War 2. Ask the ladies behind the counter at your local op shop, they will tell you about the second world war and those 'bastards' and you will get a wonderful bargain with this!