WHO

DenHolm’s Steven John Clark is a rock legend who carves new life into raw limestone.

Steven John Clark carved out a custom prize for this year’s IDA winners.

Now in its 10th year, the prestigious Belle Coco Republic Interior Design Awards held in November celebrated today’s best talent – both emerging and established – in interior design and decoration. And in the true spirit of Australia’s flourishing creative industries, 2020’s worthy recipients each took home a trophy by esteemed local stonemason and sculptor Steven John Clark, founder of denHolm.

Steven’s design for the handcrafted awards reflects his desire to make them less like a hero piece and more like a sculptural work of art. He says the idea was to create something that could sit comfortably on display at home without necessarily identifying as a conventional looking trophy. “I was vibing off Roman vessels but with a denHolm twist,” Steven says about his initial reference points. “However, the final result was completely different,” he recalls of his going off-piste and surrendering to a freeform method.

Made with disparate elements stacked over a vertical steel rod, Steven says he combined his chiselled “arsenal of bits and bobs” to create “graphic elements but nothing necessarily too edgy … there are curves and softness in there, too. It’s both masculine and feminine.” His hand-hewn carvings involve a “secret sauce” of techniques that have resulted in an organic, rocky tactility. “All the pieces have slight variances and stone marks. They aren’t all identical. Like humans, we’re all the same … but a little different,” says Steven, who originally hails from a small village in Scotland called Denholm.

From large furniture to smaller pots and planters, his aesthetic is informed by skills honed in both the construction and fashion fields. Creating the trophies for the awards was a first, with great consideration going into the texture and weight suitable to fit in the palm of a hand or the perch of a shelf. Cut from South Australian limestone sourced in Mount Gambier, the chalky, totem-like forms are surprisingly light, weighing not much more than a bag of marbles.

“The title of getting an Interior Design Award from Belle is wellearned, and this trophy is an added gift to remind [recipients] of that,” says Steven. den-holm.com

Clockwise from top right Sculptor and stonemason Steven John Clark in the denHolm studio. Every piece is handmade by Steven and his team at denHolm. Samples of the stone. The limestone is sourced from Mount Gambier, South Australia. One of the handcrafted trophies Steven designed for the 2020 Belle Coco Republic Interior Design Awards.