words William Wiles
Barnacle and Harpon 321 are one-off pieces by British designer Stuart Haygarth, made for the Oxford Street windows of department store Selfridges. Commissioned for the London store’s Wonder Room boutique, the pieces were made to evoke the theme of storms.
As with most of Haygarth’s work, Harpon 321 and Barnacle are made with objects the designer found on the beach at Dungeness in Kent, but unlike his similarly constructed chandeliers, these contain no lights.
“The Harpon 321 is based on a particular make of fisherman’s glove I’ve found over the years,” says Haygarth. “The other two, Barnacle (White) and Barnacle (Black), are based on collections of white plastic and black plastic I’ve found.”
The Barnacle pieces were inspired by World War Two sea mines; Harpon 321 is rather more personal and evocative. “It’s kind of unnerving when you’re walking along a beach and you find a glove that’s had some sort of life and has obviously belonged to someone once,” says Haygarth. He compares the finished form to a sea urchin, or the kind of hardy plants that live on the Kent coast. “It looked quite organic, because it had very textured fingers.”
The pieces, on display until 30 April, are on sale for £10,000 each.
images Andrew Meredith
top image Harpon 321, made of fishermen’s gloves
Barnacle (White), which resembles a sea mine
