It’s been an interesting week, apart from the usual grind. I can now add canoes to the list of inanimate objects I have tied which already included handbags, shoes, shop dummies and more parcels than I care to think about. We spent one day creating an installation by suspending a 5m dug-out canoe in the stairwell of a designer mews house in Marble Arch. Being almost next door to Tony Blair’s house meant I had the added bonus of an armed police guard to deter scumbags from pilfering my beloved Honda Blackbird. It was a lot more challenging than one might suspect as our patron wanted minimal rope to be visible from the front (inside) and was extremely particular that it should be exactly vertical. Sadly, he has insisted the photos be kept private 🙁 However, the one in the photo is very similar to the one that we hung. The story goes that the canoe was bought from Lasco’s architectural salvage where it had hung in the cafeteria for years after being found in the mud of the Thames.
I have also been tying up the final details for the arrangements for our star guest for The London Festival of the Art of Japanese Rope Bondage. I can’t wait to break the news. In addition, I have been doing a spot of private teaching and now have Mike West here for residential tuition. Gorgone arrived yesterday and we have Dragon Ropes and his model coming tomorrow ready for BOUND on Friday at The Flying Dutchman. As usual, it will undoubtedly end up like a combination between a lost property office and an insane asylum here.
This evening Gorgone and I ran through some ideas for our show tomorrow. As we already have seen, she bends backwards in an almost inhuman way so it was a no-brainer to have a go at Kazami’s tortuous and beautiful but oh-so-simple suspension from his photo shoot at Chez Esinem. This tie almost had Gestalta beyond her endurance and she is one tough girl. I think Gorgone has the edge on her in this position due to her flexibility in that particular direction, although she was definitely feeling the strain and very grateful when it was released. You see my Kazami’s below on the left and mine on the right. It will definitely be a component of our show at BOUND tomorrow but we will be throwing in a few other moves, of course.
