Assemble draws on folkloric rituals for Fibredog shelter in London

Structure collective Assemble has married thatch and timber to craft Fibredog, a public art work that doubles as a shelter in London, on present as a part of the Frieze Sculpture present.

Positioned in Regent’s Park, the set up was created by Turner Prize-winning Assemble for this yr’s version of the Frieze Sculpture artwork initiative, which runs alongside the London version of the Frieze Artwork Truthful.

Fibredog is meant to resemble a legendary creature and responds to the occasion’s theme, Within the Shadows, which explores darkness as an area for creativity, slightly than as an ominous one.

It’s positioned amongst timber and logs on a website in Regent’s Park and was designed to have a looming presence that concurrently looks like a pure and protecting a part of the panorama.

This idea attracts on folkloric crafts and customs, reminiscent of the worldwide custom of handmaking figures, together with the wicker man, fear dolls and corn dollies, to confront anxieties.

Assemble additionally drew on den-building tradition, conventional thatch roofs and the park itself to develop the fabric palette of cedar, woven wicker, sedge-grass thatch and man ropes.

“Educated as architects, we’re used to constructing objects at a bigger scale usually, and for this yr’s Frieze Sculpture temporary it felt much more thrilling to create a way of looming presence, a spectacular being, referencing the wicker man or an object which might be learn as a part of the panorama,” Assemble accomplice Maria Lisogorskaya informed Dezeen.

“Some conceptual threads embody how folkloric crafts and rituals provide a cathartic inventive framework,” added accomplice Mary Anderson.

“It has been fascinating to spotlight a human impulse to make issues within the face of the unknown and the potential energy of that for higher or for worse,” she continued.

Fibredog’s physique was designed to emulate a thatched roof, providing shelter inside the park and “blurring the road between structure and artwork”.

It was created in collaboration with basket maker Mollie McMillen and grasp thatcher Mark Harrington, whereas the cedar structural body was developed with furnishings producer UniFor in its manufacturing facility exterior of Milan.

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Past making a playful and intriguing sculpture, Assemble wished Fibredog to attract consideration to the potential of native and pre-industrial supplies.

“Whereas conventional constructing crafts like wicker and thatch might sound a world away from numerous Londoners’ each day lives, reflecting on how issues are made and what has been handed down by way of generations highlights a human capability to query, invent and clear up issues,” mentioned Anderson.

“That is one thing that we expect is vital to maintain within the public consciousness and one thing that we see as being underneath menace.”

Fibredog shall be on present at Frieze Sculpture till 2 November 2025. Assemble is now on the lookout for plans to rehome it after the occasion and is in contact with the house owners of varied parks and public areas.

Based in 2010, Assemble is a multi-disciplinary collective that works throughout structure, design and artwork. Its earlier initiatives embody Granby Winter Backyard in Liverpool and “skatable sculptures” created for Artistic Folkestone Triennial.

The pictures is courtesy of Assemble.

Frieze London runs from 15 to 19 October 2025. See Dezeen Occasions Information for an up-to-date checklist of structure and design occasions happening around the globe.