by Will Cottrell | Mar 13, 2026 | Material Investigation, Writing
Form Studies: Bamboo Hyperbolic Paraboloids Often used in contemporary Asian bamboo architecture, a hyperbolic paraboloid is a doubly-curved surface, simultaneously concave and convex. This deceptively complex form is actually made entirely from straight lines. Every...
by Will Cottrell | Mar 11, 2026 | Material Investigation, Writing
Understanding Form through Bamboo Maquettes Creating bamboo maquettes as a precursor to larger structures is a traditional process used by Balinese and Vietnamese bamboo carpenters. Following this traditional, I often use maquettes to study the designing and weight...
by Will Cottrell | Mar 11, 2026 | Material Investigation, Writing
Prototype Bamboo Furniture Bamboo is well known for its furniture and building potential. I wanted to explore how this was done, and since bamboo carpentry is quite distinct from its wood equivalents, the only way to do this was to build prototypes of my own. Each...
by Will Cottrell | Mar 11, 2026 | Material Investigation, Writing
Exploratory Bamboo Assemblies A constantly-evolving series of material experiments with bamboo assembly. The work ranges across structures, maquettes, furniture, and sculptural, exploring how bamboo can be shaped and assembled through both traditional and improvised...
by Will Cottrell | Jan 21, 2026 | Material Investigation, Writing
Developing Idol forms through Offcuts Some of my work is based on death and what remains. It seems to me that we cannot not be our ancestors. Physiologically, we are composites of the dead—faces, bones, inherited gestures. Psychologically, they live on in us as well:...
