Stone and Iron Sculpture – U Shaped Decorative Shelf Accent

The U is both the form and the name of it: an open loop that reads differently from every angle, closing into a solid shape when seen from the side and opening into a frame when seen straight on. It is made of stone and iron together, two materials that could hardly be less alike in how they handle light, since stone diffuses it across a surface while iron throws it back in a narrow band.

Porosity is what determines how a stone object ages. An open, absorbent stone takes on a patina from handling and from whatever it stands in, while a dense one stays close to how it arrived. Iron does the opposite and changes visibly at the surface over time. A piece combining the two will therefore not age evenly, which is a large part of what makes it worth living with for a decade rather than a season.

It suits a shelf or a console with depth behind it, since an open form needs something to frame. Grouped with lower, softer objects it supplies the vertical.

• Material: Stone and iron
• Shape: U-shaped