Peter Marigold's cabinets "bleed" as steel reacts with tannin
This series of wooden cabinets by designer Peter Marigold are stained at the joints to look as if they're bleeding.
Peter Marigold has created a collection of simple cabinets made from cedar tongue-and groove-cladding that feature a form of localised ebonising, or blackening of wood.
"I'm interested in character and impermanence in objects," Marigold told Dezeen. "I love the fact that things are in a constant state of change and decay."
The steel hardware used to hold the cabinets together has been stripped of its usual zinc coating, and the cabinets have been left outside, exposed to the elements.
The unprotected steel reacts with the tannin in the wood, creating black "bleeding" patterns on the wood.
"Man builds things up, and then nature begins a slow steady process of taking them down again. A normal response to this effect might be despair like King Canute trying to hold back the sea, but I see beauty," said Marigold.
Marigold spotted the effect on fencing in his local area, caused by builders using steel rather than stainless steel nails, or even a steel hammer that can contaminate the nails.
"The bleeding nails are like a smoking gun, like nature claiming a foothold in man's work," added Marigold.
The collection includes a wardrobe and side, wall and tall cabinets, which are on show at the Sarah Myerscough Gallery in London until 28 June.
