benjamin shine sculpts entwined ribbon portraits for his own wedding

benjamin shine sculpts entwined ribbon portraits for his own wedding
photo by lilli waters

sculpted by artist and designer benjamin shine for his own recent wedding, ‘entwined’ celebrates the couples journey together and the idea of two souls taking physical form and sharing every twist and turn along the way.

the sculpture and installation takes the form of two ribbons, floating from the air as they loop and converge to define each profile. the lines continue meandering around trees and over branches, deep into the forest where they entwine to form the wedding arch. developed from his tulle fabric work — where shine pleats a single length of tulle netting fabric with an iron to create intricate images — ‘entwined’ follows the same principle but is instead made with folded ribbons of metal mesh. the portraits rely on the natural dark green backdrop of the trees to provide the required tonal variations through the layering of the white mesh ribbons.

detail of the ribbons for ‘entwined’
photo by lilli waters

the piece was designed to be seen as guests arrived, while also providing a practical guide to lead them to the ceremony and seating area — 150 meters away in the forest. in total, over 4 kilometers of handwork was required in bending and compressing the edging to create the ribbons, which have been powder-coated in white.

ribbon spiraling off into the forest over branches
photo by james alexander

ribbons flowed into a larger archway which guests walked through after the ceremony
photo by lilli waters

detail of the ribbons meandering around trees and bushes
photo by lilli waters

ribbons twist through trees
photo by lilli waters

the work winds through the trees to form the wedding arch
photo by lilli waters

wedding photograph under the ribbon arch
photograph by lilli waters

installing and snipping the arch hanging wires
photograph by lilli waters

\’hands of time\’ — 50 meters of tulle fabric at SCIN gallery for london design week

making of \’hands of time\’, pressed and pleated with an iron

\’why?\’ — single length of tulle on canvas, 85 x 65cm

designboom has received this project through its ‘DIY submissions’ feature, which welcomes readers to submit their own work for publication. see more designboom readers submissions here.