Niki Cotton
An interview
with Niki Cotton
about her multiple:
'#femalekind’
Where did you make these multiples?
Rhos on Sea
Any interesting or funny stories in the development of these multiples?
Trying to find someone with a laser cutter available in the middle of lockdown that I could get to for a socially distanced meeting was interesting! I needed to add an extra layer around the original perspex word as it was too fragile to post out. It was quite a feat but I ended up finding one up the road from me with someone who had taken delivery of a new machine at the beginning of lockdown. He was using the time stuck home to learn something new which helped me out no end. Luckily he had some sheets of clear perspex available too as it was really hard to get hold of any as everyone was buying it up for their business & staff for when they reopened. I probably couldn’t have chosen a worse product to try & make my multiples out of at the time!
Tell me about your experience with Unus Multorum and/or Plas Bodfa as it relates to your multiples.
I’ve loved having the opportunity to not only put up some work in the beautiful 1920’s bathroom at Plas Bodfa but to also be pushed to rethink the way I presented my stories, recipes & to do lists alongside my photographs by Julie. This woman is a joy to work with & so inclusive & encouraging. To see her energy expand into every space in the house is very exciting to have been involved with. & how, through thick & thin, & a once (we hope) in a lifetime lockdown due to a pandemic, she wasn’t deterred. She didn’t let any of this squash her wonderful plans for the house. Taking it all online with incredible virtual tours. I also loved the link of this amazing bathroom to the shimmering mirrored & glittery surfaces of the perspex that I used to make my multiples. I needed something glamorous & shining to represent the room which had influenced their birth. Thanks Julie.
You choose to make a certain number of Objects in your edition. Why this number?
Gosh, I don’t know....I quite like a round number & I think as I had done 4 colour ways I found making 20 of each had been quite a large out put.
Where do you imagine these multiples to end up?
Hanging round the necks of wonderful people all around the world
Tell me more about the materials used in your multiple.
Why did you choose this material? What do you like about it?
I chose the perspex as I felt it was a material that I would be able to get hold of with ease (pre pandemic!) & that it would be relatively easy to get it to be the thing that was in my head if I could find a laser cutter. I loved the opportunity to get hold of coloured & mirrored surfaces that represented those beautiful slabs of coloured glass tiles in the bathroom but also reflected the world around them. There is something so shimmery about the mirrored colours & also the glitter one just screamed glamour to me. It made me think of dancing & glitterballs. I’m always after the shine & twinkle!
Why do you make things (in general)?
It’s a weird need. Something to do with my hands. I’m a big fidget so I'm always doing something. Movement & making. The building of something from nothing is as normal as breathing for me. I come from a long line of makers & doers so it feels like - just the thing that I do.
Any other information or stories you'd like to include?
This is not only for Plas Bodfa & the objects but also I am using the work in the MA that I am currently engaged in. It’s part of my research
