Nylon cord, acrylic, silver, magnets

As a result of living in remote and rural Australia since 2000 I have been exposed to a culture of resourcefulness. This project is a reaction to the disparity I feel exists between the sense of satisfaction that resourcefulness grants and the lack of opportunities for this in an urban or metropolitan environment.

KNOTS is a project that seeks to reintroduce the humble skill of knot tying into the contemporary urban environment. To wear one of the six knots you must tie it onto yourself. The sequence of steps to tie the knot are embedded within the object, each step guided by the memory of the material and two magnets that only combine in the correct combination. The instructions are engraved onto the silver disk attached to the end of the knot. The wearer does not have to be aware that they are acquiring a new skill as the objective of the piece might suggest, in this regard the piece also acts as a tangible and ‘living’ archive of the knot it translates.

There was a time when for a crew member aboard a ship, sound knowledge of knots was imperative to the daily grind. This skill set was a cornerstone of onboard culture, sailors at leisure would sit and share their knowledge of knots. A rare knot was treated as a valuable commodity to be bartered for another equally ingenious combination of loops and twists. This practice, that celebrated a hands-on working knowledge of your environment, faded when a push from the land lubbers to educate the sailors was enacted. Soon, only the most rudimentary of knots were practiced, as in their spare time sailors would steal away to read the recently acquired onboard library.

The contemporary urban environment provides a plethora of written information, yet in contrast to the outback environment, opportunities to practice hands-on basic skills and achieve a sense of resourcefulness are limited. The emphasis of the urban skill set has shifted to a somewhat ‘virtual’ sphere, where the actual mechanics of physically existing and living are not so necessary to consider. This imbalance between the virtual/information based skill set and the mechanical is addressed through this project.