Rachel Robinson MA (RCA)
I make things happen
Project management
How did i get here ?
Following on from Czech and French language study in London, I moved to the world of art. Choosing sculpture, I studied in Manchester before moving into my own studio for personal practice and commissioned work, using income from interior design and show-flat creations for UK companies as a means to funding a life in art.
A year after completing my Masters degree in sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London, where I specialised in foundry practce, casting in bronze, iron, rubber, salt and sand for example, I took up what was initially a 3-month project to make one of Antti Lovag’s bubble houses habitable for its new owners. This developed into a three-year project management undertaking to finish the construction of the house, started in 1968, with Antti and to develop and refurbish what had already been built. I went on to renovate a second bubble house in Theoule for a period of five years; both these projects represented aspects of installation art and a natural career progression.
The found object had always been my main source of sculptural inspiration. Such objets trouvés have a past, a present and a future, much like any building or home.
Aesthetics always played an important part in my work, and an appreciation of the diversity of materials and the variety of their possibilities fed my interest to working on building projects. Through working with Antti, I evolved my own concept of sculptural architecture and decoration, both established and experimental, which continue to permeate my current work.
After ten years working exclusively on Antti’s bubble houses, and growing roots in the South of France, I continue to offer a bilingual, personal advice and project management service to both local and overseas-based clients with nascent or fully-developed ideas for property renovation work.
Curriculum Vitae
Following the International Baccalaureate in the UK, I studied languages at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and Kings College, London University, before moving on to art.
Having graduated with distinction in art foundation and with a First Class Honours degree in Fine Arts in Manchester, I took a Masters in sculpture, with my principal practice in the foundry at the Royal College of Art in London.
I took opportunities to work as an artistic assistant in the iron foundry of the Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Aberdeen, as a teaching assistant at the Chelsea School of Art and assisted with sculptural installations at the Saatchi Gallery, London.
Additionally, I worked for Urban Splash, Manchester, as a freelance buyer of furniture and accessories, tasked with show flat creation and installation.
For two runs of the biennial Manchester International Festival I worked as a technical assistant and artistic liaison and translator, particularly with the Malian singers, Amadou and Mariam.
From 2006, for three years, I worked with Antti Lovag project managing the completion and renovation of the Maison Gaudet.
From 2010, for a period of 5 years, I collaborated with the Bernard family and Odile Decq on the renovation of the Maison Bernard bubble house.