“The dream is to blend the outside with the inside – a common design language.”
Halima Cassell MBE
The collaboration
IP Surfaces are collaborating with world renowned British sculptor, Halima Cassell MBE, to deliver bespoke art installations that can transform spaces, externally and internally. IP Surfaces are combining our innovative use of materials and world-class embellishment techniques with Halima’s strong geometric designs and recurrent patterns to create captivating external and internal environments.
Halima’s approach
Halima enjoys working with a diverse range of materials such as stone, wood, glass and plaster where the processes and methodology in creating these pieces are very similar, focusing on material characteristics and the unique properties of the substrate structure.
When creating a new design, Halima will often go through a series of experimental processes, each requiring a different mindset. Every project requires a unique solution that starts with an artisan approach from initial sketches, sometimes from former ideas, to create the basis of a shape for the structure and followed by the exploration of numerous design solutions.
Halima then isolates herself from external stimuli preventing her from thinking about any possible inherent technical problems that may occur at the production stage, as this may affect her freedom to be expressive during the creative process. For Halima’s style to flourish perfectly it’s essential that the geometric mathematics of the pattern and the surface area work accurately and harmoniously. Each unique piece demands hundreds of hours of concentration and commitment that journeys through an atmosphere of effervescent, creative, dynamic tension to realise an idea to a physical reality.
www.halimacassell.com
About Halima Cassell MBE
Halima was born in Pakistan, brought up in Lancashire and now lives in Shropshire. Halima’s varied multi-cultural background is tangibly present in all of her work, fusing her Asian roots with a fascination for African pattern work and her deep passion for architectural geometry with a unique rhythm and repeat style. Halima’s work is intense yet playful, structured yet creative, substantial yet dynamic and invariably compelling in its originality.
UCLan Student Centre & University Square, PRESTON
Halima was commissioned to design a series of applied ‘Industrial Art’ works based on her enduring interest in 3D tiling repeat patterns. Integrated directly into the actual design fabric of the public realm, these designs have formed the decorative embellishments to the granite used in retaining the ‘Miley Tunnel’ walling on Rodney Street and integrated seating sited around the university’s new square.
The granite materials used for the patterned walling were a combination of flamed, honed and polished waterjet-cut elements which gave a really striking contrast and dramatic aesthetic to the finished wall. For the benches IP Surfaces used their 5-Axis CNC using a router tool and then had stone masons finishing it off using manual hand cutters before it went into a sandblasting container to remove any saw marks. IP Surfaces went through many surface-embellishment processes to arrive at these finishes which, in collaboration with Halima, became a proven triumph for what can be made possible when vision becomes a reality.
