Today the role of the humble utilitarian packing crate is often overlooked by the frenetic art world. But this is truly the age of the packing case. Never has so much art, (mostly modern & contemporary), travelled between so many auctions, art fairs, exhibitions and private corporate and institutional collections.
Artworks for the most part have got larger in scale in recent decades. This is matched with a wider awareness of the need to keep artworks in as original a condition as possible to preserve the items’ often astounding value on the strong art market. These points have generally resulted in all quarters of the art market being fully aware of the optimal practicalities with which to pack, transport and store pieces safely.
Cases waiting use
Museum picture case
Several of the UK’s leading fine art shippers and packers, design and fabricate cases in-house for any size of object, from standard one-way gallery cases to bespoke museum specification to support and protect artwork. Martinspeed, the specialist international fine art shipper and storage company has three main storage sites in London as well as having a dedicated packing case fabrication workshop in London’s east end.
Stages of a packing crate being built
When packing cases and travel frames come to the end of their lives, generally the cases were sent to landfill sites. Simon Sheffield, Martinspeed’s Director and Richard Conlon, Martinspeed’s Warehouse / Environmental Manager were concerned by the environmental impact, the cost of this, and were convinced that there would be a demand for wood. Within the yard of the warehouse premises in south east London, set down behind a high wall and palisade fence, an unassuming shelter has been built. This is the outdoor workspace for Ian Rodgers, constructed a safe distance away from the warehouse Ian, like many of the company’s 150 or so employees is both an Artist and Technician. Whilst working for the company over many years “on and off” he has also taught at Lambeth College as well as being a figurative painter and printmaker who, by his own definition, works in an 'English Expressionist' style. As Head of Recycling for Martinspeed, Ian’s role is to deconstruct any unwanted packing cases and travelling frames, separating materials back to sheet plywood, square timbers and foam as well as sheet plastics and cardboard. Glued joints can pose some problems to separate neatly, Ian much prefers to disassemble screwed joints. The long screws along with buckets full of case furniture; nickel plated metal handles, protective corners, even bracketed wheels can all be either recycled or reused. Some oil-based materials, plastic sheeting and foam padding, (Ethafoam is closed cell foam as seen in camera cases etc.), can be directly recycled.
Very occasionally Ian comes across some Thai, Japanese and Indian crates which can contain some fine timbers. Closer to home he might come across some fine beech planks as well as fine quality pine planks previously used as travelling frames. These timbers have obvious quality and value and have long been reused by staff and others in a variety of carpentry projects.
Engineered wood contains a high proportion of glue so if this is chipped for biomass boilers it needs to be mixed 50-50 with normal wood before it can be burnt safely. It is far better environmentally for sheet plywood to be repurposed and is often given to charities and projects to use and they come to Martinspeed simply from word of mouth. But before the plywood sheeting leaves, Ian sprays a distinctive logo of green acorns within a circle to mark the recycling project. This naturally was designed by Martinspeed’s artistic staff.
The results of Richard’s initiative are impressive. Up to 80% of all materials can be recycled and the seven Biffa skips, (each with a capacity of just over six cubic metres), are now replaced with just one for absolute waste. Some other less obvious benefits of carefully deconstructing packing cases are carrying out a final audit to ensure small components have not been missed and that Ian has developed a good tan through working outside!
Never short of creative imagination, Martinspeed staff have formed their own outside area where they have experimented by adapting packing cases into planters, a dining table with bench seats, a table, an umbrella and even a 'Barcelona chair' after Miles Van Der Rohe with the addition of metal legs to form their own totally recreational space.
Martinspeed outdoors recreational space
Of course, there is a precedent. In 1934 Dutch modernist designer of the De Stijl movement, Gerrit Rietveld upcycled pallets and packing cases to create his 'crate chair', several versions of which went into commercial production. Today groups such as Remakery (www.remakery.org) recycle and upcycle found materials some of which have come from Martinspeed.
The Lake at no. 100 Union Street SE1 is a new urban oasis in Southwark. A series of temporary architectural projects created by EXYZT, a collective of architects, carpenters and other volunteers have made experimental buildings from recycled materials on a previously derelict site prior to its redevelopment. In the summer of 2013 this included a temporary installation featuring a shallow boating lake, a juice bar and a long timber deck for sunbathing. (www.unionstreetlake.wordpress.com)
The recycling of useful materials is highly creditable and Martinspeed’s initiative has helped many other community groups from the Children’s Scrap Project in Hackney, The Field a community run Space in New Cross S.E. London where a long term derelict building was renovated, partly utilising recycled materials and ‘small world Urbanism and www.action-now.co.uk. At www.rosendale-allotments.org.uk used plywood have been utilised to form raised beds and compost bins. The possibilities for recycling seem to be endless!
Two views of the Lake Project, Union Street
Action Now ‘Team Building’ project with Deutsche Bank using Martinspeed material in a variety of ways in a community garden, Loughborough Junction.
GLOSSARY
Packing case
The aim of a packing case is to protect valuable contents against any environmental, manual or mechanical hazards. The case is designed to protect work during transit. Ideally the rate of air exchange in and out of a case should be limited, so the work effectively travels in its own climatic conditions, which are not subject to large changes in humidity or temperature. As items are often airfreighted the total weight of the object and the case is always going to be a major consideration. Valuable and / or fragile items might have inner cases within padded outer cases. Packing cases can be fitted with simple ‘tilt tells’ and shock detectors, which can tell the recipient whether the case has been moved out of vertical position or even dropped. Technology can now allow real time monitoring of atmospherics such as temperature and relative humidity and other parameters with satellite links from sea containers if required!
Transit Frame
A transit frame is a simpler solution to a full packing case where an item is mirror-plated into the open protective frame so that it is solid on the edges but the large areas front and back are usually sheeted in plastic. In all situations certified wood and conservation grade wrapping, appropriate to the nature of the artwork, should be used. Transit frames are not suitable for international transits. Valuable or fragile works are often packed in transit frames and then secured inside cases.
Plywood
Plywood is an engineered wood. Logs would be ‘shaved’, much like a pencil sharpener producing a thin sheet which can then be glued with alternate layers together at 90 degrees to the one below it. Several layers of wood bonded and pressed together are stronger than one thick layer and are far more consistent and freer from the inherent defects of natural wood. Plywood was introduced into the United States in 1865 and 3-Ply sheets were being used as artist boards in New York as early as 1880. Softwood plywood panels made of cedar Douglas fir, spruce, pine and fir or redwood. The wood is well seasoned resulting in less sap. Hardwood plywood is made from angiosperm trees and is very strong. Tropical plywood comes from mostly Asian but also African and South American countries and is generally made from mixed species of tropical wood. The most common ply-board sheet is 4 x 8 feet and is often between ½ and 1 inch thick although thicknesses up to 3 inches are possible. It is said that good plywood can last a thousand years but of course this remains to be proved!
