Let's get plastered!

Plaster is one of my favorite materials.  I love the readiness and availability of it, and it's history.  Plaster is made from Gypsum, and has a long history in architecture and the arts.  Think frescoes and mold making to walls and architectural elements, to furniture, lighting and sconces.  I think plaster adds a timeless appeal to modern interiors.  I love sculpture models out of plaster and love the idea of the immediacy of it.  Plaster gains patina over time and since it is so dry it absorbs oil and moisture from the air and from the touch.  The patina is a living record of it's life written on it's surface.  Plaster has it's history and it's future transcending design and different periods from Egyptian plaster use to the works of designers such as Serge Roche or John Dickinson's plaster furniture.  Jeff Koon's also worked in plaster such as his early food models such as 'bread with egg', following in the footsteps of people like Claes Oldenburg, and Cy Twombly's sculptures in wood and plaster.  I even like when there are repairs visible in the plaster. This shows that somebody loved something enough to fix it.  Even if the piece is made out of such a cheap and readily available material, the value should only increase with each repair.  The years spent polish brass until it gains that softness and warmth that only old brass pieces can have.  It's the patina which is what people want, the years of handling and the value which comes through it.  I even love the crazing of old lucite pieces, and pieces made out of old resins.  The Japanese have a word for it called Wabi-Sabi.  The finding of beauty in an imperfection, people who love old things find the beauty in the age and the patina... the burl of wood, the cracks in a lacquer finish or the oxidation or patina of a metal...