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Bristol designer’s quest to fuse creativity and commerce
Bristol-based designer and fabricator Mark Harris’ day can vary vastly. One day he might be wrestling with a giant 100-year-old tree root, the next, folding sheets of fibreglass, or laying a mosaic patio.
Harris has spent more than two decades blending artistic practice with commercial craft.
Founder of GLUE Design & Fabrication, Harris is not only a designer but also an entrepreneur who recognises the potential for original designs in the middle market, a way to monetise creativity while staying true to it.
This year marked a milestone as GLUE was officially incorporated and listed at Companies House, formalising what has long been a fixture of Bristol’s design scene.
Designer Mark Harris attempts to fuse original designs with everyday objects such as lamps and tables
Bristol24/7 recently caught up with him to discuss the next chapter for GLUE as it seeks to “spread its wings.”
A Dartington College of Arts graduate with first-class honours in Fine Art and Contextual Practice, Harris has worked across the arts since the late 1990s.
His roles have ranged from artist and technician to designer and fabricator, an experience he says shaped his “hands-on”, collaborative approach to running GLUE.
From his workshop in Cheston Coombe in Backwell, next to Big Nath’s BBQ, Harris and his small team produce sculptural lighting, furniture and bespoke objects for private clients, galleries and commercial interiors, marrying specialist fabrication skills with an eye for originality.
“The impetus to start GLUE was twofold,” says Harris. “It grew from a need as an artist to produce objects and to support other artists in generating income from their designs.”
Harris works with a range of material from tree stumps to concrete
Among Harris’s most sought-after designs are lamps, where everyday function meets original form.
“Given my past experience with blending art, design and fabrication, developing lamps and small items of furniture seemed the most natural path,” he explains. “With lamps, you can produce a sculpture together with a function.”
His artistic practice, inspired by everyday materials such as wallpaper, concrete and steel, informs the sculptural, material-led aesthetic of GLUE’s lighting and furniture designs. His bespoke sculptural pieces have been installed across the UK, from Bristol to Belfast.
Before establishing the brand, Harris ran a fabrication business supporting artists and galleries, an ethos of collaboration that remains central to his work today.
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GLUE’s output ranges from delicate forms to bold, brutalist pieces. Harris works extensively with concrete, steel, fibreglass and occasionally a tree stump freshly unearthed from the ground.
“That’s the rewarding aspect of my work,” he says. “Seeing raw material slowly take shape into an original design.”
His design process, he explains, is “entirely fluid”.
He said: “Over the years, I’ve developed the skills and the ability to work with many different materials, so I’m not really restricted by them.
“Often, I’ll see form within a material itself and let that lead the way.
“Brutalist-inspired works are pretty dominant in my practice due to my love of brutalist forms, though that’s likely to change. At the moment, GLUE products are largely made with concrete, steel and fibreglass because those are the materials I most enjoy working with.
“I’ll actively push myself out of my comfort zone to generate autonomy and tangents in my designs.”
Collaboration is key to GLUE’s model, says Harris. By partnering with guest designers and artists, the studio acts as both maker and incubator, expanding its catalogue and opening new opportunities without sacrificing craftsmanship.
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Harris said he prefers not to “over-curate” designs, noting that “aesthetic interests are vast and subjective”.
“Being an art technician teaches you to work with artists, designers, performers and creatives,” he says. “You learn to work closely with clients to develop and present their work to the best standard possible.
“I use this approach with collaborative works for GLUE — lots of discussions about materials, function, form and play.
“When I select artists to collaborate with, I look for people who can stretch ideas of design and function to new places. The process of making and designing must play the central role, even if it means creating something that’s potentially unsaleable! GLUE is a space to be free and happy.”
One of the sculpture installations by Harris
Operating with a team of fewer than ten people, Harris maintains a high-touch, client-focused approach that appeals to bespoke buyers and interior design consultants.
It is perhaps a way of demonstrating that creativity, collaboration and commercial focus can combine to build a sustainable, craft-led business.
All photos: GLUE
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