Maker’s Spotlight – Sasha Sykes

The resin creations that Sasha Sykes generates center around reinventing and reinterpreting materials she’s collected. The Irish artist has spent her career forging for bird nests, rotting trees, and algae; and turning these unused pieces into furniture and functional artwork. The Dublin-born artist studied architecture at Edinburgh University prior to working as a retail designer in London and New York. In 2001, she created Farm21, the company where she designs and produces hand-crafted resin furniture.

It was while Sykes was exposed to retail that she viewed people working with plastics. The potential she saw in the material, along with her design background, enticed the artist to start designing in plastic. This was a self-taught venture…one that has grown substantially over the past few years. Sykes says that she loves plastics and resin because of their “transformative powers.” About why plastics and resins appeal to her, the artist said, “I love the idea of capturing a moment in time and being able to preserve that and transform it into something that is presented in a different way. It is such a manmade product and what I am presenting is very natural and that juxtaposition makes it interesting.”

Sykes’s main influence is her beloved Irish landscape and its intense relationship with history and humanity. Living in big metropolitan cities, mainly London and New York City, and moving back to rural Ireland was life-changing. The vast differences, from cultural to demographic, helped point out two different aspects of today’s world.

Always the consummate Irishwoman, Sykes strives to ensure that her work is an “honest portrayal.” She tries to create pieces that you can “pin to a particular environment and location.” In such, she works with local flowers and fauna because it is how she feels she can best make strong statements about Ireland and its stunning countryside.

During the lockdown, Sykes produced “Verdiculture,” a collection that she describes as a “visual meditation on the seasons, moods, and history of the English Garden.” The screen, a woven wave of 40 panels, is meant to reference both the formal elegance and tranquility of traditional English gardens and the beauty that can be found in embracing the wilderness on a garden’s edges. Each of the panels is comprised of twelve hand-cast resin layers embedded with dried plant material that was forged in local gardens. Three words: lush, green, and luscious… “Verdiculture” is a true testament to the enchanting beauty of nature.

Even though her work is extremely time-consuming because it is so precise, Sykes would not have it any other way. Being self-taught gives her work a certain “uniqueness”…but throughout the process of teaching herself, she has taken many wrong turns. There are challenges at every corner; but along with those, there is an element of discovery.

Sykes work is such that you don’t see the potential beauty until the final polish is applied. Often times, this part of the puzzle is months down the line, so it is the anticipation that keeps the artist coming back for more. Sykes says that she is hooked due to the process and finished product’s beauty…us too!