Cube in a Cube

Commissioned by the Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts from Fred Baier and made in Baier's studio in Pewsey, Wiltshire between September 2011 and January 2012. The work collides two equal cubes, one finished in velvety madrona veneer and one in anodised aluminium, utilising a digital image of the veneer but with an electric blue finish. The Crafts Study Centre wanted to celebrate its forthcoming exhibition 'Fred Baier: Right Angle' (co-curated with the Ruthin Craft Centre and showing at Farnham then Ruthin in 2011 and 2012) with the special commission of a new piece of furniture for the permanent collections by Fred Baier. Baier is a furniture designer / maker who does not fit altogether readily into preconceived notions of the craft. He works as the piece demands, using the skills of the boatbuilder or the computer controller; responding to place (from a hi-tech hospital to a Scottish castle); or giving his time to community projects from Hackney to the Isle of Wight. Fred Baier works exclusively to commission and this work has enabled a creative conversation with the Crafts Study Centre and the artist to take place around the inquiry into the Centre's collections of wood and furniture and Baier's response to this research.