LIQUID ASSETS

Clare Foster admires the mesmerizing, imaginative water sculpture of Andrew Ewing.

House & Garden Magazine
August 2005

Andrew Ewing is a master of understated, clever design. As was demonstrated by his design for the central water feature at this year's Daily Telegraph / House & Garden Fair, this talented 35-year-old makes water features that are beautiful in their simplicity and modern in feel, and his work is much in demand among a select, mainly London-based clientele. The features he builds are unostentatious, with the water itself forming the focal point, its movement highlighted by light and shadow. It is a subtle, sophisticated approach. 'I try to make the finished item as "invisible" as possible, so that the eye is drawn to the play of the water,' Andrew says. 'It's all about how the water behaves rather than the structure itself.'

Water and light have always interested Andrew. Having studied sculpture at Kingston University, he went on to work for two years with water sculptor William Pye. After this, he dabbled in lighting and furniture design, before embarking on an MA in industrial design at the Royal College of Art. His career took a decisive turn when he won a place on an exchange programme at the Kyoto City University of Art in Japan, where he spent three months studying how water and light can be used in architecture. Back in Britain, Andrew started work as a technical-product designer. It wasn't until a landscape-designer friend asked him to help with a water feature in a garden he was designing, that Andrew began to build up his own portfolio and eventually set up on his own.

Working with architects and landscape-designers is something Andrew particularly enjoys, because it means that his work can be integrated smoothly into the overall plan. 'More people in this country are looking at the relationship between indoor and outside spaces,' he says. 'I like my work to be part of a cohesive design.' In one of his most recently completed projects, he was commissioned to work with an architect to build a feature that would complement an extremely modern extension in which a wall of glass rises through two storeys. Andrew's design incorporates a simple, black-lined pool with a central cavity in which grows a silver birch, and a cascade of water that runs down a series of limestone steps, mysteriously disappearing underground at the bottom. At night, the tree is lit so that its image is reflected in the pool.

Lighting is an essential component of Andrew's work. In one of his most complex pieces, he engineered a series of water jets that form perfect arcs from one hole in the ground to another. A fibreoptic light was placed at the base of each jet, and because of the optical quality of the water, the light is carried all the way through the arc. 'When we showed a prototype to the client, she thought it was made of glass,' recalls Andrew, with obvious pleasure. In another design, paving stones have holes through which water bubbles up, lit from below by fibre optics, suggesting the flickering of flames.

To create different effects, Andrew uses a range of materials, such as a stainless-steel wire mesh which he makes into tall, upright screens. Water cascades down the screens in translucent waves, lit on either side to highlight the movement. 'We installed one of these recently, and the wind ripples across it in a way I wasn't expecting at all. Generally, when I'm working on a new project, something unexpected happens because water is so unpredictable,' says Andrew. It is this unexpectedness that characterizes his work, as well as his ability to bring out an almost
magical quality in a resource that most people take for granted.

Andrew Ewing Aquatecture © 2005 All Rights Reserved.