Meet the Maker Shaping Wood with Personal Narratives
London artisan Darren Appiagyei transforms pieces from fallen trees into sculptural vessels that reveal emotional symbolism
From his studio in South London, Darren Appiagyei creates vessels that combine sculpture and story: organic forms linking his past with his creative present. Each piece can take up to two months to finish, using wood from fallen trees and a process that moves from turning to sanding to burning before finishing with Danish oil.
Appiagyei was born and raised in South London, the son of Ghanaian immigrants. His father died when he was ten, leaving him and his brother to care for his mother, who had mental health issues that would later be diagnosed as schizophrenia.
“It got to a point where we had no money and were struggling at home—there was no food and no electricity—and we had to make do.” That scarcity, he says, taught him resilience. “I’ve never been naturally gifted; I’ve just been a hard worker.”
Art offered him an escape, and Appiagyei remembers “endlessly draw[ing] for hours.” But when it came to choosing a career path, he initially considered social work. “Because of my childhood, I wanted to help others.” However, the time constraints of caring for his mother made pursing that occupation an insurmountable challenge. A teacher suggested a foundation course in art instead. “I thought, let’s go down the art route and see where that takes me.”
Appiagyei soon found himself in a craft-based product design program at Camberwell College of the Arts in London, where he encountered the wood lathe. “We had a unit where we had to learn a new skill. The lathe was in the corner, nobody using it,” he recalls. “The technicians didn’t know how to use it either. They said, ‘just be careful.’ I used YouTube to teach myself.”
His first piece, he admits, was terrible—but he loved the process. “When I was turning, I didn’t have a set idea in my head but it was just like being a kid again,” says Appiagyei. “When you’re in elementary school you have that freedom to roam around and explore. That’s what I enjoyed about working with wood and observing the material as I carved into it.”
Today, his work is held in the permanent collections of the Crafts Council in London and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and he’s garnered significant commissions from designers such as Brigitta Spinocchia Freund, Alex Dauley, and Of The Cloth.
Symbolism has become a key element in his output, most recently in “What Grows In The Dark Comes To Light,” a collection of 10 vessels crafted for Collect Open, an international art fair for contemporary art and design in London. The pieces, designed to honor his mother, who passed away five years ago, were placed on plinths that feature a metal sheath silhouette of a pregnant woman. He earned the coveted Collect Open Award for this installation, the first where he imbued his art with specific moments from his personal life.
As he continues to evolve his practice—experimenting with scale and new hand-carving tools—Appiagyei is also thinking about legacy. “Legacy is important to me because it inspires the next generation,” he says, noting the lack of racial diversity in woodmaking. “I think that’s the beauty of my practice; I think it’s important to continue to develop my work. To have longevity, you have to continue to experiment and push the limits.”