MEMORY BLOCKS WIDELY CHERISHED
Artist’s hand-crafted 3D tiles continue to be bestselling collectible items even 20 years later, writes Rebecca Keillor.
Sid Dickens’ three-dimensional memory blocks have been bestsellers for the past two decades, since they were first discovered in Vancouver by a Hong Kong designer in the early ‘90s. With each collection produced in a limited run, they have become collector’s items. We caught up with Dickens to chat about his latest collection, launched in Paris.
Q Tell us about The Renewal Collection, which you just launched at Maison & Objet in Paris.
A The Renewal Collection came about when I began thinking about spring and launching a new collection. Images of new growth or life, beauty and optimism and simply birds coming back into my garden. I also took the tile finishes back to my original ones that were darker and somehow more mysterious. We regularly launch two new collections each year. In the U.S. at The Atlanta Gift Show; Maison & Objet in Paris and either The Melbourne or Sydney Gift Show. Our memory blocks are 100-per-cent hand-crafted at our Vancouver Studios.
Q Is there anything about your new work that will surprise people familiar with your past collections?
A An impetuous optimism. I wanted this collection to be a celebration and a rebirth of all the good things in life. My work is very eclectic and I always try to incorporate things that I love and gravitate toward. The tile format works because I have so many different ideas and it allows me to express all those different ideas. My palette continues to be influenced by retro colours.
Q Tell us about the collectors market out there for your previously released work.
A When I began creating the memory blocks there was no intention to have them become collectibles. I just wanted to create pieces of art that people could put together and then they could become engaged in the creative process for themselves.
When I discovered that people were collecting them and there was this movement in people placing significant meaning to their collections, that was a real reward for me. The meaning of the tiles has evolved to become as important as the tiles themselves.
Q Tell us about your connection to Haida Gwaii (a group of islands off the north coast of B.C.).
A I was raised in the northern community of Prince Rupert in a commercial fishing family. The ocean has always been a big part of my life and so Haida Gwaii is a natural place for me to call home. If you have ever experienced The Charlottes (as Haida Gwaii is informally known) you would understand the amazing beauty and calm that the islands offer.
The weather is an influence, the patterns of the wind and the rain, the salt air, all so active and yet the balance and stillness affords one to be free and unencumbered. I spend time in my studio and garden, two of the most inspiring places that I call sacred and nourishing to my creative soul.
Q Your memory blocks have been popular for over two decades. How has your approach to your work changed over this time?
A My approach will always be the same for the tiles. I am first and foremost a visual person and someone who needs to connect with an idea (and on my computer I must have a zillion ideas that I have amassed through the years — I could not have tracked all of my ideas without a computer).
Many of my ideas I have worked on for years, some which have never seen the face of a memory block. The most difficult dilemma I have is choosing what to introduce next as a new collection.
Q What has been the best feedback you’ve ever received?
A Undoubtedly my best feedback is that it keeps selling worldwide after 20 years of constant work. During these years some of my collectors have given me books of their collections and the meaning behind them and that’s pretty special to me.
I know for instance that Dr. Vicki Racker wrote in her latest study that patients with Alzheimer’s have memories that are triggered by my work. I know that we recently had a woman who purchased 15 “Wing” tiles to give away as a memento for her son deceased in very unfortunate circumstances. I know that recently a couple used our Princess tile to announce the sex of their expectant child and I produced a custom tile for a man to propose to his partner.
Q What’s next for Sid Dickens?
A I am in the process of producing a very special limited-edition collection, which is the result of many years of creative ideas. I have conceived it as a sort of iconoclastic retrospective of my 20 years in this business with the intention of capturing all the intense and creative process behind my memory blocks. They will be specially fit for big-scale interior installations but also as collectible.