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Project Title: Memory Blanket
Client: Compton Hospice
Location: Wolverhampton, UK
Project Description:
The inspiration for the work comes from interior designer Sue Hope's interest in American Indians and her knowledge of their Dream Catchers.
Hung beneath a skylight in the hospice's Wulfruna Lounge, the Memory Catcher is a series of three rows of panels, with each panel made from two pieces of Bullseye glass fused together. The panels are arranged rather like a patchwork blanket, with each one sandblasted with a memory from Sue's childhood of holidays, the countryside, clowns and flowers.
The 'blanket' is hung over stainless steel poles at either side of the skylight, with it looping down in the middle, using tensioned stainless steel wire, each fused panel is linked together to make the glass 'blanket'. What makes the design doubly striking are the cut-out triangular sections on the edges of each panel.
To achieve the curved centre section we initially produced a mock-up of the shape, then, taking account of the weight of the 'blanket' (100kgs), we obtained structural calculations and reproduced the precise curvature of the glass panels.
From this we were able to undertake the delicate task of bending each fused panel to match its corresponding section of the template. Echoing the ceiling hanging is a privacy screen, which is also in the Wulfruna Lounge. It, too, is made up of small squares depicting the memories of patients.