Tending the Flame.
Film by Harry Johnson
‘Tending the Flame’ is a new piece of furniture commissioned by the National Trust for William Morris’s Red House in Bexleyheath, London. The commission was the result of an invited competition, a collaboration between the National Trust and the Crafts Council, to design and make a contemporary response to the long-lost cooking range which once stood in the kitchen at Red House. The piece was conceived by furniture designer Hugh Miller, in collaboration with his brother, architect Howard Miller, and made entirely in the brother’s studio in Liverpool’s vibrant creative quarter, the Baltic Triangle.
(Harry Johnson’s entire film archive about this project, with extended interviews, will be published on a dedicated YouTube Channel. Link will be published here soon.)
Image by Robert Holmes
Concept:
The concept of the design is based on a quote by Austrian composer Gustav Mahler: ‘tradition is the tending of the flame, not the worshiping of the ashes’. This sentiment sits hand-in-glove with the brothers’ interpretation of Morris’ ethos for the Arts & Crafts, the movement from which Red House is an exemplar, where Arts & Crafts philosophy was not about ‘worshiping the ashes’ of times gone by, or lamenting progress, or shunning technology. It was, in Hugh and Howard’s eyes, about ‘tending the flame’ of craftsmanship, in a symbiotic relationship between a maker’s head, heart and hand. The brothers’ design was a call to tend this flame, both metaphorically and literally, in that the partial ‘burning’ of the work was an integral aspect to its concept and making.
Image by Hugh Miller Furniture
The piece is constructed of British oak, and made up of a dovetailed box held on triangulated legs. A slatted ‘burn funnel’ hangs underneath the box, and an urn sits at the bottom. The inspiration for the shape of the burn funnel comes from the iconic dormer facing the garden at Red House, where the brick pillar widens to accommodate two arched windows.
Image by Joseph Browne
Once made, the piece was set on fire in a public ‘Burn Ceremony’ in the garden at Red House. Burning represents the creative destruction signalled in tending the flame. The charred timber references the cast iron of the missing Red House range, and the use of fire as a tool welds the design to the original range, rekindling the fire of the solid-fuel stove that it once contained. The charred surface of the timber also reflects the analogue thinking and making processes Morris championed – engaging materials with head, heart and hand.
Image by Robert Holmes
The fire that was stoked in the piece was held in a bespoke bronze cradle made by Manchester-based metal artist Jon Male. This cradle was made up of two paddles, which were inscribed after the burn to commemorate those involved in the project.
Image by Robert Holmes
Project Credits
- Design: Hugh Miller, Howard Miller
- Construction: Hugh Miller Furniture
- Metal Work Artist: Jon Male, Studio Jon Male
- Client: The National Trust, Red House – Robynn Finney, Lucy Porten, Elly Bagnall
- Funding: National Trust Orpington & Chislehurst Centre
- Design Competition Supported by: Crafts Council – Amelia Lawrence, Caroline Johnson, Francesca Glass, Scarlett Millar, Jill Read
- Film Making + Process Photography: Harry Johnson
- Photography (Completed Work): Robert Holmes
