A ‘Sense of Self’ left for future students’ contemplation

Future generations of Wakatipu High School students will be indelibly linked to this year’s leavers, thanks to a legacy gift, unveiled yesterday.

The year 13 students contacted hugely-respected Queenstown furniture designer Ed Cruikshank several months ago, asking if he would be involved in helping create their ‘legacy gift’.

Cruikshank, who had just launched the Ed Cruikshank Creative Scholarship Fund, being administered by the Wakatipu Community Foundation, says creating a legacy is something he’s always had an affinity with, and his views align perfectly with the students.

"I always think the most valuable legacy we can leave is peace.

"We all need peace to be able to have a good life ... so I’ve been working a lot with peace in my work since 2010, and my whole ethos with my work is to have conversations that matter — it leads to, hopefully, a slightly more peaceful world."

Cruikshank worked with the students, and helped them fundraise, to come up with Sense of Self, a stainless steel circular bench, about 1.7m in diameter, constructed by Hazweld Bespoke Steel Fabrication, built in five parts.

The students, he says, wanted to be as inclusive as possible, particularly as it pertained to culture and language.

Cruikshank’s used Braille in his work for years now, noting it’s a language most people don’t understand, so it opens up conversations when it’s included in his pieces.

As to how to "include everyone in the world?"

"We came up with the idea of using the senses, because regardless of your nationality, or your religion, or any other conceptual thing about a human, the five things we all have in common are the senses."

Wakatipu High leavers, from left, Bethany Graf, 18, Jess Hudson, 18, Queenstown furniture...
Wakatipu High leavers, from left, Bethany Graf, 18, Jess Hudson, 18, Queenstown furniture designer Ed Cruikshank, leavers Jack Smillie, 18, and Mason Clarke, 17, on Sense of Self, this year’s leavers’ legacy gift to the school. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Each section of the seat represents one of the senses and, additionally, five other words are included — communication, learning, connection, fellowship and peace — which expands on the concept of better communication leading to a more peaceful world.

They chose Sense of Self for the name "because to do the best job of reaching other people, you’ve got to be in touch with yourself".

"The idea is, you can sit and you can either chat with your friends and be sociable and have conversations that matter, or you might sit quietly by yourself and contemplate.

"One of the things I love, this idea some of the kids will come back in the future and maybe they’ll come and sit on this bench ... and reflect on their time at Wakatipu and what’s happened in the meantime — ... who knows, some of them might bring their own kids and sit on this bench and say ‘I remember the day we presented this’.

"For me, that’s a really beautiful, real legacy."

 

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