More about After Saly I, 2018
Jacques Saly was an 18th century French sculptor who, whilst working in France, Denmark, Italy and Malta, also created a number of drawings and prints of fantasy vases (
vases inventés). He was a close friend of Giovanni Piranesi, an Italian sculptor and artist who is also known for his imaginary compositions, such as his
Prisons series.
After Saly I was inspired by the exuberance of the Saly creations and allowed me to make use of the 3D scans of a number of Sèvres ceramics that were made for me of pieces from the Waddesdon collection.
The form of the vase was drawn by hand using 3D CAD software, which enables 2D line drawings to be translated into 3 dimensional structures.
The miniature Sèvres vases were then arranged as a tumbling mass of ceramics around the central section, joined together and attached to the handles, rim and pedestal.
The drawing process required numerous iterations until I was happy with the final version. After this intense and time consuming development of the design the data was then checked with specialist software to ensure that the object can be successfully 3D printed and the working relationship I have with the technicians is essential to a successful outcome. The software sliced the data into thousands of 0.08mm layers and the piece was 3D printed, slowly building each layer of material, in this particular case, nylon, until the piece was complete. It was then hand finished and coated.
