Simin Qiu

End Grain

The End Grain project is focused on the study of wooden materials. The End Grain project explores the potential high values of pine when innovated with new and contemporary wood handcraft skills.

Pine is the most commercially prevalent species of tree throughout the world, due to being a fast-growing softwoods. They have traditionally been classed in the cheap timber group. However, the tissues of pine, phloem and xylem, which are of tubular shape, and the chemical composition of pine, enable pine to have a wider range of benefits such as light transmission and gorgeous grain patterns. These valuable benefits on pine are often neglected and not fully utilised. It is the wider application of pine that this project explores, using natural processes to create a new approach to material composition.

Trees grow in different soils and environments, so their habits are also varied. To maximise the utility of the wood is both a requirement of craftsmanship and a requirement when differentiating between woods. The skills of craftsmanship transform the off-cut pine into high-end objects with elegant finishes.

The project includes a detailed catalogue of materials and making processes. It provides a new opportunity allowing more people to study and participate in the future. The positive environment helps this project to acquire sustainable and self-development vitality.

Artificial-Natural Processes of making

‘The forms of nature are functional. And precisely because they are functional, we find them beautiful.’
– Andreas Feininger 1966

The surface of our planet’s richly textured crust is made up of a diverse mixture of amazing abstract patterns. It is created by the interplay of geological forces such as heat and pressure in the earth’s interior, and also by external forces such as weathering and erosion caused by sun, wind, water and glacier ice.

Focusing on natural processes and bridging the gap between science and art, I try to explore the broad and elegant principles underpinning the formation of ripples patterns. The artificial wave machine challenges traditional computational design methods. It simulates ocean motion forces to create a range of organic patterns in accordance with the laws of nature. By changing the frequency of motors, it accurately controls the patterns beyond normal phenomena that most often occur in nature. The patterns possess an almost indescribable and mysterious sense of beauty.

This project aims to simulate the natural processes of making, and yet achieves a level of accuracy and perfection that are uncontrolled by nature. It is a new way of design that goes beyond current applications and looks to the future.