J. Rubinstein

I make wooden mobiles, designed to be as light as possible, moving appropriately to the idea they represent. Most start as a response to an image in a poem or a story. I want my work to be beautiful but also to have meaning for the onlooker. I explore the ways in which mobiles enable a single shape to represent different things depending on viewpoint or distance. Ideas and shapes combine to challenge the viewer with multiple perspectives. Sometimes, images appear and disappear as the air takes the piece. Every stage of making involves exploration, decisions and openness to revision. The colours produced by various timbers, the shapes it is possible to make and the shapes it is possible to suggest, the stringing of the pieces and the movement available in the final piece all require deliberation and experiment. I trained as a cabinet maker and furniture designer over 40 years ago at the London College of Furniture. While there I learned about vacuum forming. The work I’m doing now is less about furniture making but I keep the same standards of work and finish as far as possible.