The concept for The Bell Tower was born from discovering 'The Travelling Foundry' project by 'Ore and Ingot.' Inspired by the long lost tradition of a mobile foundry which would travel from town to town, village to village, forging church bells, Ore and Ingot recreate this alchemy of melting metals. The element which truly captured us was the detail of the tradition that town members would donate their metal to the foundry to make the bell as large as possible.
We approached Wilderness Festival and suggested that the foundry should appear every year at the festival forging a 'Wilderness Bell' in increasing annual sizes. The vision was that the tower holding these bells would grow and change as the number of bells grew.
2013 - Working with the artist Sean Kerr, the 7m tall tower was constructed with a complicated diamond shape at the top and a seating platform at the bottom.
2015 - Working with USA artist Joel Dean on a collaborative design, The Bell Tower rose to 12m tall and included a viewing platform.
CLIENT. Wilderness Festival
CREDITS
2014 COLLABORATION: SEAN KERR
2014 PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK CARO
2015 COLLABORATION: JOEL DEAN
2015 PHOTOGRAPHY: SOPHIA SCHORR-KON