The opening of the Chapter 7 Gallery in Hangzhou, China was marked by an exhibition of work by Tom Price, who took the opportunity to celebrate the gallery's cross-cultural philosophy by using the images of two great thinkers from east and west, Confucius and Socrates.

The tables are made from polypropylene tubes that are fused together, then melted to create the tabletop.

Price, who was invited by Chapter 7 to work in China for 2 ½ months, describes the conditions under which the work was done. "A significant portion of the work was carried out in an enormous wood-processing factory on the outskirts of Hangzhou. It was the only place that offered a large heated metal bed needed to partially melt plastic pipe to form smooth flat surfaces. The machine, normally used to bond melamine to wooden boards, is heated to about 230°C, which, when combined with the 40° mid-summer heat outside, created an ambient indoor temperature of around 50°C. Fine for Saunas and Bikram Yoga but pretty challenging conditions for furniture making."

Price arranged the tubes to form the two-dimensional image of the philosophers, appearing as a pixilated image when viewed from the right distance.

The use of a convex mirror on the gallery wall allows viewers to see the faces more clearly.

+ tom-price.com