Careful stitches mend the cracks in these vessels that woodturning studio Ash & Plumb has created for London's Collect craft fair from an oak tree felled by lightning.
The Novus collection includes seven miniatures and seven more large-scale, monumental vessels ? some measuring up to 80 centimetres high and half a metre in diameter.
Ash & Plumb has created 14 vessels made from a lightning-struck oak
All are made from the wood of a towering four-tonne oak tree that was downed in Heathfield, East Sussex, during a storm.
"Most of our wood either comes from Sussex or Kent," said Dru Plumb, who co-founded Ash & Plumb with Barnaby Ash. "We try to keep it as local as possible."
"With this one, we found a single lightning-struck oak tree that had a lot of beautiful cracks running through it all." Among them are seven large-scale monumental vessels
Influenced by the Japanese art of kintsugi ? a ceramic mending technique in which cracks are filled with golden lacquer ? the studio aimed to celebrate these imperfections.
"We want it to feel like each piece has a history to it," Plumb told Dezeen. "Even though it's contemporary and recently created, it's got an old soul."
The studio also created seven miniatures
Each piece is carved out of a single block of wood, meaning it does not rely on glue or joints.
To ensure structural stability, Ash & Plumb adjusted the shape of the pieces and the placement of their sculptural ha...