Change Agent

Everyday objects become wondrous artworks in artist Ann Carrington’s clever hands

- Shax Riegler

Who knew that steel soup spoons could be assembled into perfect peonies? Or that soft silver teaspoons are just right for delicate rose petals? In British artist Ann Carrington’s fanciful vision, the bowls of berry spoons are linked to mimic hydrangea blossoms, and fork tines make great protea blooms. Before any of that could happen, though, Carrington had to learn to weld, solder, and braze.

“They’re quite difficult to make,” she says during some downtime at her light-filled studio in a former railway yard in Margate, a seaside resort east of London. Composed of castoff flatware, Carrington’s lush floral arrangements take about three months to create, from sorting to composition to completion. “Each flower requires a different kind of spoon,” she says, “and each metal requires a different heating technique.”