Design Indaba 2020: Paul Cocksedge Unveils His Cape Town Bridge Design
The designer explains his “pillar of timber on the move” across the beautiful Liesbeek River
Paul Cocksedge, one of the UK‘s brightest designers, has garnered attention and praise for his award-winning work (from public art to architecture) and creative exploration. Though difficult to define, his designs are easy to recognize and even easier to remember. Cocksedge spoke at this year’s Design Indaba and his inspiring, energetic talk ended with the unveiling of a new project for Cape Town. Cocksedge designed a fully sustainable bridge that will be built across the beautiful Liesbeek River, about 30 minutes by car from the busy city center of the South African city.
“Ravi Naidoo and the Design Indaba team told me there’s this place in Cape Town, not too far from the city,” he says to us, after his talk. “They sent me pictures and when the first one came through it was such a contrast with what I see outside my window in London. It’s beautiful, lovely, very green. There’s fish, there’s butterflies. It was so amazing. It’s a place where people go and families gather for picnics. There’s a river and it connects two communities, but at the moment people cross it by stepping stones. Sometimes if the river floods or if the conditions aren’t right, people don’t cross.”
Naidoo suggested Cocksedge design a bridge here to help. “A bridge is a simple thing but there’s engineering, structure, teamwork, community involvement, all these different types of things you need to do to get into a successful thing like that to operate,” Cocksedge continues.
These more intangible feelings and entities are intrinsic to Cocksedge’s work. His structures often make one think of light, wind or sound waves—quite a feat considering the materials used might be concrete, iron or hardwood. He explains, “There’s a number of times that we’ve seen a rendering or a proposal from an architect and when you experience the space in reality, you feel those elements. I think that the human body is so sensitive to innocent things like the smallest detail of the smallest shaft of light. Your projects are meant to interact with the elements.”
Getting lost in in your head is a good thing
Essentially though, his inspiration doesn’t come from one source, but the feeling of stimulation. “I don’t over-analyze in terms of my process or where ideas come from, but one thing I definitely know for sure. When I’ve been getting a lot of stimulus—whether when I listen to music or maybe have a bit of alcohol—that’s when I think clearer actually. I don’t know why. When I look at some people and they go to work, sit down and they say, ‘I’m going to be creative,’ that would be my worst nightmare! I need a bit of music because it’s taking my brain over here. But as I’m going that way, I could get this job done. It’s just fascinating. Getting lost in in your head is a good thing.”
His complex, unique and seemingly ever-changing process means it can be difficult to describe his projects before they come to life. He tells us, “I do drawings, I enjoy them but I’m not sure what they mean to anyone else. My iPad records the drawing process and this is quite flippant. Before, we would just show the idea, but renderings are so soulless and people just criticize and they judge it. Whereas when you show someone the sketch, the process, they go, ‘Wow!’ And that’s where—as designers, artists and creatives—we have skills. We need to show that it’s not easy to do what we do. We need to show the journey.”
Hero image courtesy of Cocksedge Studio
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