Dezeen Magazine

"I think I swallowed some of the resin" - Phil Cuttance

In the first of a series of movies about objects we curated for the Stepney Green Design Collection, east London designer Phil Cuttance describes the messy process of casting an extra-large version of his Faceture vase.

"I had to wrestle" with the Faceture vase - Phil Cuttance

Cuttance explains how he had to bolt a special casting jig to his garden fence to cast the 7-kilogram vase. The process was "definitely not as clean as it looks in the images," he admits.

"I had to wrestle" with the Faceture vase - Phil Cuttance

The litre-and-a-half of resin used to create the vase "went everywhere - I think I swallowed some of it," he says.

"I had to wrestle" with the Faceture vase - Phil Cuttance

To make the vase, Cuttance first hand-scored a 0.5mm sheet of plastic with a triangular pattern. He then rolled and taped the plastic into an irregular tube to create a mould, manipulating the faceted surface to create a unique pixelated surface. After pouring resin into the mould, it was rotated on a jig as the resin cured. Read more about how the vase was made in our earlier story.

"I had to wrestle" with the Faceture vase - Phil Cuttance

This special version of the vase is 80cm tall and features an extract of a poem by Lilian Bowes Lyon, a poet who wrote about her experiences of living in Stepney  during the Second World War, cast into its base.

"I had to wrestle" with the Faceture vase - Phil Cuttance

The Stepney Green Design Collection consists of 10 products selected by Marcus Fairs of Dezeen from creatives who live near to VIVO, a new housing development in the east London district. The project also includes objects chosen by east London bloggers Pete Stean of Londoneer and Kate Antoniou of Run Riot.

"I had to wrestle" with the Faceture vase - Phil Cuttance

The collection is on show at the Genesis Cinema, 93-95 Mile End Road, Whitechapel, London E1 4UJ, from 10am to 10pm every day until January. After this, the objects will be given to VIVO residents.

Stepney Green Design Collection

We'll be publishing movies of all the designers who contributed to the collection over the coming weeks - see all the items they designed for Stepney Green Design Collection here.

The music featured in the movie is by American designer and musician Glen Lib. You can listen to the full track on Dezeen Music Project.