The Brilliant Chamber is a sculptural cabinet derived from some of Tasmania’s early Hydro Electric Schemes. It attempts to evoke the grand and awesome scale of industrial infrastructure, creating a fantasy world of massive thick walls, cavernous spaces and metal catwalks spanning these voids.

The ’decorative panel’ of folded copper and salvaged electrical gauges represents the beautiful control boards and switch gear in these power stations. The polished brass and copper suggest the splendour of jewellery or an Elizabethan garment.

The structure is a torsion box of plywood. The base or plinth is cast concrete with some sections eroded away before the concrete was set. Decorative elements include materials such as lead flashing, copper, brass, cast pewter, found objects and glass. The shelving at the back of the cabinet is cast polyester resin.

Visits to the Waddamana power station in Tasmania’s central highlands were a major source of inspiration for the piece.

Resolving the design of this piece was extremely challenging. There were so many conflicting issues and materials. Life size mock-ups gave me the confidence to move forward, but at every step one had to ’do a bit’, step back and see if it was working, then redesign and remake, or move forward again. It was very interactive, intuitive and labourious.