A spotlight on GOODD, creators of ‘The Snail’

The latest of Rodić Davidson’s Bury Place exhibitions comes to terms with the idea that the production process makes for a generative creative experience and should not be rushed.

It understands time as value, privileging contemporary interpretations of ‘slow making’ over industrial manufacturing processes. Because for Glasgow-based artist and interior designer Brian Proudfoot, as for Ralph Waldo Emerson, the devil is in the detail, and in how that detail manifests itself within the wider whole. ‘The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn, and the growth of a thousand worlds is in one snail’.

‘The Snail’ is an innovative research project dedicated to exploring production and working practices. Its primary aim is to stimulate cross-disciplinary learning through the generation and exchange of knowledge. By integrating both new materialism and traditional techniques, Proudfoot provides a unique perspective on the dedication and energy required to create meaningful objects and designs.

Since co-founding his exhibition and commercial interior design practice, GOODD, in 2008, Brian has worked with organisations as wide-ranging as Dundee Contemporary Arts and EE and with artists such as Tom O’Sullivan and Joanne Tatham, with a view of design to communicate knowledge and learning.
Goodd has established itself as a vital creative partner for leading international artists, contributing to the realisation of critically acclaimed projects. A standout collaboration is the Jim Lambie Whisky Cabinet for Diageo, which creatively integrates visual elements from Lambie’s ‘Wool’ paintings using over a thousand stained timber veneer strips.

Their artistic partnerships extend to creating subtle, practical plinths, tables, and screens for The Modern Institute gallery. Additionally, they helped transform the cafe interior at Jupiter Artland sculpture park and gallery in West Lothian, skillfully complementing the surreal and elaborate works of Nicolas Party through a thoughtfully curated design arrangement.

Rodić Davidson shares many of Proudfoot’s values in this regard and remains committed to approaching projects from an interdisciplinary vantage point and seeking opportunities for collaboration. This was apparent at the Couture House, which involved close collaboration with textile curators and lighting designers, and at Hans Place, where graphic design and furniture form essential components of the architectural scheme. It is for this reason that they took the unusual step of participating in a national art installation with an international reach.

Each Snail collection delves into a distinct material practice, with the Rodić Davidson collection being produced in collaboration with DOBA Design, a pioneering plastics recycling studio and workshop based in Edinburgh.