“A large-scale public sculpture of barley stalks in stainless steel. Commissioned for Waitrose Sanderstead to celebrate British agricultural heritage.”
This public commission for Waitrose in Sanderstead is a towering celebration of the core of the harvest. Standing as a prominent landmark at the store's entrance, the installation uses the verticality and strength of stainless steel to mimic the swaying, golden fields of the British countryside.
Commissioned by Waitrose for their Sanderstead location, this large-scale installation features multiple towering stalks of Common Barley (Hordeum vulgare). The sculpture serves as a permanent architectural landmark, connecting the retail space to the agricultural origins of the products sold within.
Crafted from stainless steel, each individual head of grain was meticulously shaped to capture the dense, overlapping husks of a mature ear of barley. The stalks rise high above the store's boundary wall, with long, delicate awns extending toward the sky to create a sense of lightness and movement. By scaling up a single grain to such dramatic proportions, the work invites passersby to pause and appreciate the intricate beauty of the plants that sustain us.
