Ilkley Fountain

Design competition:

Echoing the way in which the design for the original Victorian fountain was selected, Improving Ilkley set up a competition for a new design to be chosen through public consultation. The prize was for the winning design to be scaled up and fabricated into the full size fountain.

Design inspiration:

Our submitted design, inspired by the relationship between moorland water and Sphagnum Moss, won the competition and we have gone on to develop it with Improving Ilkley, James Wilkinson (artist, blacksmith and metal fabricator) and volunteer consultants (architect and engineer).

Sphagnum Moss is a tiny plant found on Ilkley Moor. It is crucial to the forming of peat, filters and purifies the water, supports biodiversity, prevents flooding and becomes a vital store of carbon. As well as its significance to the development of Ilkley as a spa town where people came to take the waters, Sphagnum has long been associated with healing due to its use as a wound dressing during wars throughout human history (especially World War One). This is because of its natural antibiotic and absorptive properties.

Below is a short film made with Clare Dearnaley which explores the inspiration for the design.

Design:

Micro and macro
The design responds to how water moves through the plant. It references Sphagnum on both micro and macro levels: the cut-out forms indicate the hyaline cells of the tiny leaves which hold water, and the tufty edges of the shapes suggest the Sphagnum as a growing carpet of moss, on its way to becoming what is known as a keystone eco-system engineer.  One sphagnum plant on its own is not efficacious. As the mass of plants forms, a floating, spongy, densely woven carpet, or what can be considered a new ‘organism’ grows; a community able to affect and impact on its own environment.

Materials
A carpet of Sphagnum gives an impression of both lightness and delicacy alongside weight and strength, and we hoped that the full-size sculpture would convey this. Sphagnum peat bogs grow slowly (1mm a year). Some peat bogs are as much as 10,000 years old. The powdery grey, galvanised and acid etched steel which has been chosen as the material has an ‘aged’ quality. It is fettled and textured with natural markings to mask signs of wear and weathering and contribute to an organic feel. Like other mosses, sphagnum plants are typically only one cell thick. The steel has a deceptively delicate look (c20mm) but is extremely strong and durable.

Gesture of ‘holding’
As sphagnum becomes part of the ground it inhabits, traces of the past are preserved, with the peat of Ilkley Moor carrying within itself Ilkley’s heritage as a spa town shaped by water. Through the composition of the forms, we hoped to express the gesture of holding—water, carbon, balance, and memory. By playing with scale, the intention is that the sculpture invites reflection on human responsibility in protecting fragile ecosystems.

The making of the sculpture:

We had previously worked with blacksmith James Wilkinson, and we recommended to Improving Ilkley that they commission him to make the sculpture. He scaled-up and interpreted the design into galvanised steel with incredible skill and artistry. We feel it is a true collaboration and are thrilled with the full-size fountain.

This community project is a testament to the different and complementary contributions of all involved and we are thankful to have had the opportunity to give this design to the town.

Image below right to left: Ian Whitlam (volunteer engineer), Jo Jarvis (Improving Ilkley), Anthony Barnett (volunteer architect), James Wilkinson, Louise Hepworth-Wood (Improving Ilkley), Juliet Gutch

Community event

Images:

Photographer David Lindsay has taken images of the fountain from day to dusk to night:

Day

Dusk

Evening

Night