Staple Design – Gwilym GJ …think, design, build, enjoy, think, evolve…..

Finally – erection day!

Wastebusters Guardians - finally in place

What you see here are two ‘Guardian’ gateway sculptures I designed two years ago from old power poles.They were erected in the south end of the Wanaka Wastebusters recycling yard, this freaked the council out who demanded a resource consent for presence (interestingly the safety of the structure was secondary in their mind).

I applied for consent as part of a broader site consent I was preparing and in that process the ‘Landscape’ department demanded that the colours in the intended flags which the structures were to carry be replaced with muddy tones. Our design was intended to reflect the above horizon colours in this area, white/blue/brown, but the local ordnance seems to have settled around toning built structures out of sight as opposed to making them an intentional part of the landscape.

Finally last week with Brendan Holloways (excellent local builder) help we Hiab’ed them back into place. It is the frst time I have seen them up as last time I was out of the country, the photos I was worried their height (around 7m) wasn’t enough to have the intended impact. But in the fleh, I think they are successful.

Design stage

I hesitate to call them ‘art’, mainly to avoid the plague of controversy ‘public art’ enjoys. I see them as an extension of the products which are sold in the yard and shop which they protect.

I like to think of them as a symbol of opportunity and the serendipitous nature of the Wastebusters experience. What you find is often not what you expect, maybe something you didn’t know you needed. Wastebusters, as do all recycling shops, holds a special place in my heart – for me they are a library of things, where I can take things home experiment with them and return them.

They also exist primarily for the staff, the people who work in often trying circumstances and – as environmental heros – deserve symbols of ownership to the place. The structures act as an unexpected anchor in an industrial yard.

Of course they’ll meet with (already have) disapproval as well as approval. I am, of course, willing to debate their necessity in a public forum at any time.

The pair juxtaposed across the entrance