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Aspen Golann’s Elegant Brooms and Brushes Take a Playful Approach to Woodworking

17 Jun, 2024

This post was originally published on Colossal

“Group Work.” Photo by Kate Benson. All images © Aspen Golann, shared with permission

For Aspen Golann, determining the function of an object is the perfect creative constraint for beginning a project. Working almost entirely by hand in her New Hampshire studio, she carves and sands wooden furniture, spoons, candlesticks, and other goods with a playful twist.

“Group Work,” for example, contains a single handle that forks into five heads, while even more minimal designs like the “Double Loop Brush” elegantly stacks two perfectly round spheres atop one another. “I find that function often suggests a starting point—like a place to put the hand, a type of anticipated movement, or an expected lifespan of the object (heirloom vs. disposable),” the artist tells Colossal.

Trained in the traditional woodworking techniques that dominated British and American life from the 17th to 19th century, Golann is clued into the historical implications of colonial-style furniture and design. As she was learning, she “kept wondering if their beauty could be disassociated from the racism, classism, and misogyny of that time? The answer for me is no,” she notes. “I think that all objects and aesthetics are products of the culture that made them.”

Rather than abandon the visual language of this era altogether, Golann decided to skew the tradition into more lively, lighthearted objects. Techniques like inlays and laminations appear in small works designed for domestic labors, whether cleaning and homemaking or growing and gathering corn tassels to create a broom head. “I think (it) humorously conflates the high status and masculine associations of fine furniture with these small domestic objects most often used by women,” she shares. 

In addition to her personal practice, Golann also runs the nonprofit The Chairmaker’s Toolbox, which offers free training and supplies to aspiring woodworkers and a program to support innovative toolmakers. “It has been the most intense and life-giving project I have ever been part of,” the artist says. 

She currently teaches in the furniture department at Rhode Island School of Design and often offers workshops and classes. Follow her work on Instagram.

 

hands hold small brushes with vertical handles of two perfectly round loops

“Double Loop Brush.” Photo by Loam Marketing

a wooden handled brush with a thin black grid and pockets in the center

“Woven Brush.” Photo by Loam Marketing

a stack of three black striped wooden brushes with a black brush on a gridded piece of wood

“Striped Brushes.” Photo by Loam Marketing

a wooden handled brush shaped like an s with two different brush parts

“Maple S Brush.” Photo by Loam Marketing

a small brush with a curvy wood handle with pink ends

“Drafting Brush.” Photo by Loam Marketing

the artist carving a wooden handle at a table in a woodshop with tools on the wall behind her

The artist in her studio. Photo by Loam Marketing

a pile of small hand-held brushes made with a variety of woods on a wooden surface with holes and wood shavings

“Simple Bench Brush.” Photo by Loam Marketing

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Aspen Golann’s Elegant Brooms and Brushes Take a Playful Approach to Woodworking appeared first on Colossal.

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ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

ABB has gained Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) status for its Gearless Mill Drive (GMD) ring motor — technology used to drive large grinding mills in the mining industry.

An EPD is a standardised document that provides detailed information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. Based on a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, the EPD highlights ABB’s commitment to transparency, environmental responsibility and supporting customers in making informed decisions on sustainability in their supply chains.

ABB analysed the environmental impact of a ring motor across its entire life cycle from supply chain and production to usage and end-of-life disposal. The study was conducted for a ring motor of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill with an installed power of 24 MW and was based on a reference service life of 25 years.

“Sustainability is at the core of our purpose at ABB, influencing how we operate and innovate for customers,” said Andrea Quinta, Sustainability Specialist at ABB. “By earning the Environmental Product Declaration for our ring motor, we emphasise our environmental stewardship and industry leadership for this technology. We adhered to the highest standards throughout this process, as we do in the ABB Ring Motor factory every day. This recognition highlights to the mining industry what they are bringing into their own operations when they work with ABB.”

The comprehensive LCA was conducted at ABB’s factory in Bilbao, Spain, and was externally verified and published in accordance with international standards ISO 14025 and ISO 14040/14044. It will remain valid for five years.

The ring motor, a key component of the GMD, is a drive system without any gears where the transmission of the torque between the motor and the mill is done through the magnetic field in the air gap between the motor stator and the motor rotor. It optimises grinding applications in the minerals and mining industries by enabling variable-speed operation, leading to energy and cost savings.

The full EPD for the ABB GMD Ring Motor can be viewed on EPD International.

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