Studio Favourites: Richard Long

As we roll into a month of school holidays, detox and catching our breath, we introduce a series of Journal features that explore the inspirations for our Coastlines collections and our upcoming pieces. Looking at geo-techniques, land forms and natural structures, we offer a closer insight into our design process. We start with Bristol born land artist Richard Long, the only artist who has been shortlisted for the Turner Prize four times.

Taking the form of land based natural sculpture, text, photography and maps; Richard Long’s work is inspired, quite simply, by taking walks and laying stones as he goes. Embodying landscapes including wild moors, mountains and deserts, Long’s pieces are physically demanding yet simple, disruptive yet peaceful. Using raw materials such as sandstone, flint and slate, Long walks and arranges his found resources, telling the story of a journey and creating routes in otherwise unoccupied spaces. At Houghton Hall for example, Long boldly arranges a stone circle in a completely pristine environment, mirroring the chandelier that hangs above it and creating a beautiful juxtaposition between the man-made and the natural.

This relationship between industry and nature, and how they can both contrast and complement each other, is deeply rooted in everything we do at Alice Made This. For our Coastlines collection, we studied the process of Attrition and replicated it through an industrial method called barrelling, nodding to Long’s use of stone and his unique way of observing a landscape.