‘AWAKE! For Morning in the Bowl of Night’ is the opening line of a Rubaiyat by 11th century Persian writer Omar Khayyam, it was taken as the inspiration for a lace bowl that is intended to be lit so as to cast long shadows.

The ‘Bowl of Night’ conjured up images of nights under a clear desert sky, free from the urban light pollution that is so prevalent in our own skies. A velvety darkness that is more than mere blackness but is imbued with rich purples and inky blue-blacks, a moonless sky flecked with unseen stars.

The ‘arms’ of the structure capture the swirling motion of the night sky as it passes above us like a huge, twirling parasol. The darkness of the night sky gives the impression of solidity and yet we know that it is composed of vast areas of emptiness punctuated by pockets of gasses and solid objects. These voids are represented by the openly worked meshes spreading between the swirling ‘arms’ that draw the viewer’s eye into the depths of the Bowl of Night.

Back to Vessels