Meet the Makers: Metal Sculptor Gavin Worth
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with Gavin Worth, metal sculptor. Gavin has created works for many respectable clients such as Lexus, Tiffany & Co, Ralph Lauren, for which he has designed custom pieces. His large-scale sculpture ‘Thirst’ is shown in the video below:
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
Gavin Worth: Minimal – Clean – Heartfelt (hopefully!)
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
Worth: I love working with raw materials like steel and wood and discovering the individual nature of each piece. When I make wire and steel sculptures, it’s as if I’m drawing on air. Each new project gives me a fascinating new canvas to work on, and as the light changes, it can almost bring a sculpture to life.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
Worth: I’m interested mostly in creating figurative art, a genre that has been explored in so many different ways by the masters of the past. It can be challenging to find new ways to convey ideas through the human figure, and I’m constantly searching for fresh angles to do this, hopefully in an interesting way.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
Worth: That’s a great question! I think my 5-year-old former self would be amazed at the size some of my sculptures have taken. Back then, I had been making small sculptures for a few years and had a tiny inkling of an idea to try out larger pieces. I’ve been so lucky in the past 5 years to be able to make a wide variety of large-scale sculptures, including a piece to adorn a public fountain in France, a 20-foot sculpture mounted onto a rooftop in Cairo, and a monumental piece installed onto a hillside in Bavaria. I hope my future 90-year-old self would say that I approached my work with energy and honesty.
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
Worth: I have a dream of collaborating with an architect to create sculptural detailing on a building that would be read against the sky. Also, as much as I love creating aesthetic pieces, I would love to collaborate with an industrial designer and bring things to life that people use every day. I think it would be thrilling to work on bringing a decorative aspect, similar to Art Nouveau, to functional items like furniture and lighting.
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
Worth: I think that the future of creation is going to be absolutely amazing. With the unbelievable new technology that is emerging, there is no limit to the potential of what creative minds can make. I’m currently looking into new techniques that will allow me to use all of the intricacy and malleability of modern technologies, like laser-cutting and digital printing, and use that to bring new life to ancient sculptural methods, specifically bronze casting. I have a feeling that the future will hold a huge amount of ingenuity and I can’t wait to see it.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
Worth: Right now, my studio is at a shared workshop in a warehouse located in a small town outside Lausanne, Switzerland. There’s open space, lots of light and, best of all, a family of pigeons outside on the windowsill.
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Many thanks to Gavin Worth for the insight into his craft. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
View this maker’s work: Gavin Worth