“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Friday May 15th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Friday May 15th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Friday May 15th — —

Ropes & Knots by Luke Stephenson

We have been following British photographer Luke Stephenson since our collaboration with him, when we gave a signed and numbered copy of his ‘An Incomplete Dictionary of Show Birds’ as our fourth Curated gift in 2013. In the following years Luke has kept very busy and made a name for himself through his exquisite eye for details which transcends his impeccable imagery, both in free project as on commissions. Recently another series of Luke has caught our attention when he portrayed Des Pawson (and some of his beloved knots, ropes and tools), the founder of the interesting Museum of Knots and Sailors’ Ropes for a feature in the inspirational magazine Hole & Corner. The incredible series by the photographer shows Stephenson’s great talent, giving a wonderful and inspirational peek into the fascinating world of nautical ropes and knots guided by Pawson in an utmost aesthetic manner.

The feature touches how Des Pawson got so obsessed with ropes:

Pawson first became interested in ropes when he was seven years old, and an uncle gave him a book for boy scouts about knots. He wasn’t in the scouts, but he was into the knots, and
he didn’t look back.

In 1989 Des gave up full-time work to concentrate on the rope business in which he has been working alongside his wife Liz since. In 1996 Pawson opened his Museum of Knots and Sailors’ Ropes as the perfect outlet for his life-long obsession.

Today, with daily commerce on the back burner, Des Pawson is still making new discoveries about old innovations and the old censorship of salty old maritime ropemaking terms, and still on the lookout for examples of sailors’ ropework that haven’t rotted, or been thrown away. It’s not about the money.

Hole & Corner celebrates craft, beauty, passion and skill. It’s about people who spend more time ‘doing’ than ‘talking’, who put content above style, whose work is their life. Through a biannual print magazine and a regularly updated digital platform, they aim to promote local trade and talented individuals, whether professional or amateur, exploring and celebrating the landscape that inspires them. Combining these subjects with some of the world’s finest still life, style and fashion photographers, our goal is to present a lifestyle and culture in a way previously unseen.

See the whole interesting story here and make sure to keep track of all interesting Hole & Corner stories here.