ARTISTS TALKING

Three years ago I found myself following my partner to Zanzibar, East Africa.

I wondered if I was doing the right thing, as I was beginning to establish a reputation as a designer/maker in London. But my personal life won out.

Predictably, as I was preparing to leave I was offered the commission of my dreams: to design a range of bespoke furniture for a luxury country house hotel in the Cotswolds. I formed a partnership with furniture maker Andrea Stemmer (Kay+Stemmer) to fulfil the commission and left for Zanzibar as scheduled. We had our first design session when Andrea came to Zanzibar and later we met in London every two to three months for intense work sessions. With the internet it wasn't difficult to keep the momentum going.

In total we designed over thirty pieces for the bedrooms, the dining room and the reception. Using oak, glass, plywood, rubber, fabric and leather we created an aesthetic that is contemporary, elegant and practical. We wanted the hotel to feel like a home from home, but even better.

At the same time I found workshop space in Zanzibar with a company that specialises in using coconut palm wood and early in 2003 I was invited as a new member to exhibit at the Contemporary Applied Arts gallery in London. This was the motivation I needed to produce a small set of stools that I had been sketching.

With a local craftswoman I experimented with 'ukili' (woven wild date palm leaves), an undervalued, yet versatile and beautiful material typically used for making baskets. I liked the idea of turning some forms in cypress wood and then disguising the softwood with 'ukili'. Once I started, I found that colour became an added dimension and I dyed the leaves myself using a solar cooker.

I enjoyed the unpredictability that these materials bring – their vibrancy and humour – which captures part of life in the tropics. I'm currently working on a set of stools for my home and looking forward to a new commission with Andrea for an art gallery in Geneva (for a client who quotes Richard Serra and Donald Judd as references).

I enjoy experimenting with new materials but timber is my first love. It still has some resistance to it – the problems that it presents often result in a creative solution. I don't like to accept conventional ways of making things so my chairs have no under structure, a desk is cantilevered and a box is twisted creating a visual tension and objects that make you think.

Sarah Kay

First published: a-n Magazine June 2003 as ‘Remote control’