Oscar's Wooden Ruler

Seven-year-old Oscar used the ruler sometimes for measuring and sometimes for playing. With guilt, he recalls that it broke when it “wasn’t being used in the, um, right way…”

Repairer Alison Jackson’s mind immediately starting wondering how the ruler might have been being used when it broke. A light sabre perhaps? A jousting stick? Interpreting the object as an item of play, Jackson cut down each of the colours to create a set of dominos. Jackson reminds us that objects have many uses beyond their original, intended purpose. The function of an object is only limited by our imagination and creativity.

Design Repairer: Alison Jackson

Alison is a Canberra-based gold and silversmith who designs and hand crafts distinctive, pared back tableware and jewellery. Elegant and refined, her work draws inspiration from the clean lines of geometric shapes, paired against soft satin finishes. Inspired by a love of traditional silversmithing, many of Alison’s tableware pieces retain the mark of the hammer. Alison has won multiple awards for her work and has exhibited nationally and in Germany. She has recently completed a large body of work for her first solo exhibition, ‘Table Tools’, which incorporates 48 functional and timeless tableware pieces.

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Oscar's Wooden Ruler. Repaired by Alison Jackson. Photos by Lee Grant. Image copyright Hotel Hotel.