JAE COPP
Jae Copp has been a friend of ours for a number of years, and we have always admired and been impressed by the attention to detail and skilled craftsmanship found in his intricate artwork. Since we first launched East Editions just over a year ago, Jae instantly shared his enthusiasm to work with us and his vision for these hand crafted lamps. Jae was keen to get stuck into the process of working out how to make the lamps, so we simply enabled and supported him to go forth and develop his concept.
This Edition has been one of the longest production processes yet for us, the beautiful hand crafted marquetry lamps are the result of Jae Copp’s patience and dedication to experimentation. The rewarding trial and error process saw Jae create multiple plaster moulds using various materials to develop the right forms he needed for the core lamp bases. Once his successful core construction process was determined, Jae went about making a number of different plaster casts to work with.
The next step was to source some veneering timber and experiment with the different ways to cut and apply the inlay timber patterning over the plaster core bases. After first making a few different sample bases with varying inlay patterning techniques, Jae then set about making the actual final pieces with confidence in the methods.
The marquetry process on each lamp took about 3-5 days using Silver Oak and Cherry Wood veneering timber, which was then followed by delicate sanding and finally multiple coats of oil based satin varnish.
The electrical and wiring component of creating the lamps was another challenge Jae had to face. He first drilled out the top cavity for the light bulb fitting, as well as a smaller cavity for the power cord. The light fittings and cord were then installed, and the in-line switch and wall plugs were added to the antique twisted braided fabric cord also. Jae’s wiring was then checked by a certified electrician to be approved for use under Australian standards. Jae then sourced some beautiful 125mm Edison Squirrel Cage filament bulbs to compliment the intricately crafted lamp bases.
Jae’s hard work, patience and incredible attention to detail is strongly evident in these three unique pieces, and we are so excited to be able to make them available through East Editions.
We hope you enjoy these process images of this Edition being hand crafted by Jae Copp at his home in the Gold Coast Hinterland.