Made up of Sarah Emily Porter and James Trundle, the design duo Porter + Trundle create furniture that goes beyond aesthetic and practical considerations and incorporates their artistic backgrounds to include more expressive and conceptual elements.
We spoke to the the award-winning duo about their collaborative creative process, how they choose their vibrant colours and future plans. Read the full exclusive interview below and head to our online exhibition First Tenants to discover their work within the space.
How did you meet and decide to start creating work together?
We met in 2014 at a friends leaving party in an East London pub. We discovered we had a shared interest in material manipulation and innovative design. Ever since we discussed how our individual practices could form a makers collective, but it wasn’t until James helped fabricate my award-winning sculpture, Anatomy of Colour in 2018 that we realised the true potential in working together. The following year we officially set up Porter + Trundle.
Are there certain elements of the creation process that one person specializes in or do you have an equal weight of responsibility throughout your process?
We’re both artists in our own right so the design is equally important to both of us but it does depend on the project. If there’s a particular brief we will discuss it briefly together and then brainstorm designs separately, before coming back together to discuss and riff off of one another. We have to sell our ideas to each other, so if we’re not convinced we’ve nailed it or we can’t be persuaded to get onboard it generally doesn’t get made. As a sculptor and trained cabinet-maker James has a much more robust understanding of the limitations of materials and our skillset which helps to refine and edit my ideas which are usually a bit more big-picture. Equally, as a painter with a particular interest in colour, I’ll push James to consider his ideas in a way he may never have thought about.
Producing work together of course means compromising to some extent, which combined with not making art or sculptures but furniture feels like two ways that you are being restricted. Does that limitation help to breed creativity?
I don’t think we’ve ever seen it as compromising - working together enriches our individual practices and challenges our creativity in a really exciting way. We’re always learning different things from each other. If we ever started to see it as a compromise, I think we would stop working together!
Similarly, the functionality of our designs always comes second to its artistic intentions. There is a fine line between art and design, craft and art, and we like our work for Porter + Trundle to straddle them all. We enjoy playing with those boundaries and pushing them to their limits.
What draws you to the bright colours in many of your pieces?
We want our work to be playful, yet bold and daring and colour is a great way to do this. As mentioned before, we like to tread that fine line between art, design and craft so the use of bright colours enables us to obscure the craftsmanship in our work to allow the forms to drift into pure abstraction.
What building/area would you most like to see your furniture in and why?
We would love to make something on water whether that’s something functional or a smaller scale sculptural piece as it would really challenge us and push our practice.
What reaction do you want to evoke when someone sees your work?
We want people to love it as much as we do.
What do you feel has been your most successful work together and why?
It’s probably Correlated Journeys: A City of London Bench which was selected as one of the winning entries of the London Festival of Architecture City Benches Competitions. There is no greater satisfaction than imagining a design and realising it undiluted. This was the first piece that really did that so it’s always been special for us. Plus London is our home town and one of the great Capitals of the World so it was a real privilege to make work that could be experienced by the masses who live and work there - it’s not an opportunity that comes
around often!
Are you optimistic for the future?
Definitely! We think all artists and designers, whether new or old, need to be responsive to a changing environment and as emerging practitioners we feel we’re in a better place than most to do this. Now more than ever is the time to be proactive, embrace opportunities when they’re thrown your way and collaborate with others. We have a few shows planned for when lockdown ends and we’ve been lucky enough to secure funding from the Arts Council to expand our practice so we’re definitely excited for the future.