ST THOMAS’S SALISBURY

ABOUT

The church is a summation of the care and contribution of each generation, a manifestation of centuries of love as care. I was keen to reflect that love and support by contributing our times in an unashamed but not confrontational way.

The concept of the altar is very simple. All things spring from one source. The design is a metaphor for that straightforward premise. The altar emanates from an explosive centre, directly beneath the dais that supports it. From this notional centre, expanding upwards and outwards, seemingly spring 1,152 pieces of English oak, which I refer to as staves. The staves emerged from the dais at the base of the altar, in the form of a rectangle of only 480 x 240 mm, each visible stave being 10mm wide at this point, 48 front and back and 24 on each side.

They continue to expand upwards and outwards, reaching towards the altar’s surface until each is 40 mm wide/square. Here they culminate as the altar’s surface.

Read more in the Furniture History Society Newsletter and on the St Thomas’s website.