Jay Rubinstein

I make wooden mobiles, often in response to an image in a poem or a story. I love work with more than one perspective and the multiple ideas which some poems can give. I try to make my work similarly nuanced; presenting more than one idea or shape at a time. By virtue of being mobiles the items always change as they move.

Occasionally I find the right technique or shape at the first attempt. More often it’s a process of continuous exploration and experiment. Even when making a mobile closely allied to a previous one, I will find myself improving and changing it. Unfortunately, this sometimes means discarding and burning early experiments when they don’t measure up.

The materials I work with are almost exclusively natural veneers (slices of wood less than 1mm thick). This means a limited colour palette and many challenges when trying to represent shapes with compound curves. Making a mobile involves multiple considerations; the colours produced by various timbers, the shapes it is possible to make and the shapes it is possible to suggest, the stringing of the pieces and the movement available in the final piece.

I originally trained as a cabinet maker over 40 years ago at the London College of Furniture. The work I’m doing now is somewhat removed from the craft of furniture making but I try to keep to the same standards of work and finish as far as possible.