Reading Pods In Hereford Cathedral

 A few years back I got a really interesting commission through Hereford Cathedral. 

It was with their education department and they wanted some reading pods to be taken from school to school and for them to reflect the cloisters. I'm fairly sure I've shared them on here before. It was a great job, I had to design and pitch for the work, and have an interview - 

The interview was funny as they kept talking about how was I going to ensure "my team" was going to going to get it completed on time. I had to stop them and say that "my team" was me, and I get stuff done because I've been self employed for 18 out of 22 years and that's the only way to keep getting work. 

I also fed the lady interviewing me fuchsia berries as we walked around the grounds! Afterwards she remarked that she trusted a stranger to feed her some random berry out of an ornamental garden! 

I got the job, started the project, then covid hit. We communicated lots and decided that it was best to shelve it for a while (I was homeschooling the kids) and I finished it shortly after the first lockdown. Because of all the rule changes it never ended up going school to school like it was supposed to. 

So it was a pleasant surprise when we popped into the cathedral the other day and they were there, set up for children to use. 

It was a brilliant project to work on and great to see them in use a few years later. Inlaying the walnut tree into the birch ply was a tricky job! So it's nice that it's all still looking great. Does look like a few of the magnetic leaves are missing though! Always a risk, but I did give them spares! They were going to have cushions but because of covid and cleaning we opted away from that in the end. 

Because of this project I also ended up making a dolls house for them as well as a carved box for an escape room they were creating. A lovely group of people to work for and work that came at just the right time. 

Let me know what you think - would you have curled up in there to read a book when you were a child?