Four Assembly

Exploring value through material, craft and colloboration

CLIENT: Midlands Art Centre

CATEGORY: Arts and Culture

PROJECT TYPE: Exhibition

LOCATION: Birmingham, UK

MATERIALS: Repurposed materials

PHOTOGRAPHER: Olivia Ricketts + Peter Warrington

APPROACH:

We created Four Assembly 2026 as a special donation to raise funds for Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) in support of The Final Bid, Michael Pinsky's interactive exhibition exploring consumption, waste and value.

The exhibition transforms MAC's gallery into a living kinetic sculpture. Suspended pre-loved chairs respond in real time to bids placed through a live online auction, rising and falling throughout the exhibition before continuing their journey to new homes. By momentarily pausing the cycle of reuse, The Final Bid encourages visitors to reconsider the environmental impact of manufactured objects and the value we place upon them.

In response to these themes, we designed and made Four Assembly entirely from workshop offcuts collected from previous commissions. Rather than viewing leftover materials as waste, we saw an opportunity to demonstrate how thoughtful design and skilled craftsmanship can transform surplus materials into something meaningful.

Constructed using our signature palette of birch plywood and Formica, the piece combines four different plywood thicknesses with four contrasting laminate colours. The layered composition creates a shifting visual rhythm, while carefully considered details reveal themselves from different viewpoints, rewarding closer inspection.

Designed collectively by our team, the project became an opportunity to experiment with colour, composition and construction while working within the constraints of reclaimed materials. The result is a playful yet precise sculptural work that reflects our belief that creativity often begins with limitation.

By donating Four Assembly to support MAC's fundraising efforts, we were able to contribute to an exhibition that champions sustainability while reinforcing the principles that underpin our practice: designing with purpose, making with care, and discovering lasting value in materials that might otherwise be overlooked.