Aotearoa New Zealand-based artist Simon Lewis Wards’ sculptures faucet into one thing that’s arguably common to childhood: an unbridled love of sweets.
Assume again to the sorts of treats you’d get in a lolly bag at a pal’s birthday, or the expertise of going to the retailers and filling up a paper bag with ‘decide and blend’ sweets.
It’s these sorts of reminiscences that come flooding again while you have a look at his (extremely lifelike) sculptural recreations of gummy bears, fizzy cola bottles, and even pink frogs.
‘Funnily sufficient, I didn’t have the traditional nook store run with pocket cash, that’s probably not my reminiscence,’ Simon says.
‘However I liked baking with my mum, and certainly one of our favourites was lolly cake made with Sweet Males, these little foam pastel characters you chop up and fold by way of the batter. That’s the reminiscence that hyperlinks me again to the sweet world.’
Simon’s profession path is one filled with swings and roundabouts. As a child, he fell in love with lettering and after faculty, he labored at an indication writing firm.
‘That job didn’t final lengthy,’ he provides. ‘However by then I’d found graffiti, which turned one other outlet for portray letters, and the start of realising I used to be basically unemployable.’
For the subsequent 15 years or so, he dipped out and in of varied tradie gigs; drain laying together with his uncle Merv; plumbing; engaged on constructing websites. He by no means even thought-about working with glass till his pals Luke and Kate requested for assist getting a glass studio up and working.
‘Kate was casting glass, and I had a go at making a telegraph pole. I immediately fell in love with the liberty of creating, and I haven’t appeared again,’ he says.
‘The colored lead crystal I used to be working with at all times made individuals say the identical factor — it appeared “yummy”. So luscious and vibrant, it was a brief leap to lollies. I took a mould off a Jet Airplane, New Zealand’s quintessential lolly, and that’s the place it began.’
The remaining, as they are saying, is historical past. Simon’s now recognized throughout Australia, New Zealand, and abroad for his playful, ever-growing assortment of Glass Sweet, which options classics like Swedish fish, raspberries, and gummy bears in each color scaled up and forged in glass crystal, whereas slip-cast porcelain is used to imitate the feel of bananas and milk bottles.
There are even bitter variations, coated in advantageous items of crushed glass that replicate the enchanting sparkle of sugar with unimaginable realism.
‘A method I like is scorching sculpting precast work: I forged a bit, clear it up till it’s exhibition-ready, then put it again within the kiln. As soon as the glass reaches a toffee-like consistency, round 650–700°C, I go well with up with the large gloves and face defend, pull it out, and have about ten to fifteen seconds to govern it right into a form that feels spontaneous earlier than it goes straight into the annealing cone,’ Simon says.
Every bit is made by hand in Simon’s studio on the western fringe of Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. His sweet making has grown into one thing of a household enterprise, now together with his spouse Keya main the advertising and marketing, alongside a small staff serving to in manufacturing and dispatch.
You’ll be able to’t assist however smile while you see his items held on a wall, in what he calls a ‘Large Spill’. And maybe that’s as a result of for Simon, creating one thing that sparks pleasure for thus many has unlocked a real sense of freedom.
‘Being the grasp of my very own future fits me deeply. As for challenges, the toughest factor is that nothing ever feels absolutely steady. Simply while you suppose you’ve acquired all the pieces dialled in, a kiln breaks, or a brand new glass arrives with a unique firing behaviour, and also you’re problem-solving another time.
However that’s additionally what makes the wins so satisfying. You understand they received’t final lengthy, so you actually get pleasure from them.’
Store Simon Lewis Wards works on-line now right here.
