Is it a seed? Is it an egg?

As you enter the gateway to Careys Secret Garden your eyes are immediately drawn toward the beautiful Rose Garden that lays before you. And, right at the centre is a rather unusual water feature. Designed and created by local artist Ted Edley, Dorset Copperfish - Is it a seed? Is it an egg? Or do you see something else in this piece?

In this blog we dig into the concept, design and construction behind the centre sculpture at the heart of the Secret Garden.

Under construction

The image to the left shows the Secret Garden sculpture under construction in Ted’s workshop.

Ted explains “the original idea was to create a large bath bomb style sculpture to obviously reflect the Lush connection. This, however, would have just been a large ball and I felt it needed to have a little more shape to it but still have the size to keep its impact, it was after all going to be the centre piece of the garden.”

“Copper was chosen because it will change over time as the garden changes, originally I was going to make the sides much smoother but Simon wanted it to "Fizz" a little, kinda like a bath bomb.

With this in mind, I switched to using smaller panels with edges to interrupt the water flow. I also wanted to add an additional material with a reveal this would further add to the interest of the piece. I used mirror polished stainless steel to create an infinite space within the egg itself but purposely had it on the other side to the entrance to create a discovery for the visitors."

Check out the Dorset Copperfish to see more of Ted’s work and read further information about the artist.

We’d love to know what you think about the sculpture, what is your interpretation of the piece? Tell us in the comments.