Colour
A metallic hue with a warmth and strength that has fascinated mankind for many centuries
The power of bronze – why it’s captured the imagination for centuries
There’s a reason that so many fairy tales have fishermen as protagonists.
When they cast their nets into the sea, they do it blindly: who knows what they might catch. In 1926, a fisherman in a boat just off the northwest coast of the Greek island Euboia hauled up something unexpected. There, at the bottom of his net, was a gigantic left forearm cast in bronze. It would take another two years before the statue – now known as the Artemision Bronze – was recovered in full and could be appreciated as a whole. Over two metres tall, it depicted the god Zeus in the act of hurling a lightning bolt. Although it had been made around 460BC and had lain at the bottom of the sea for a millennium or more, it was nearly intact.
A mixture of copper and tin, bronze has a low melting point, and so was one of the earliest metal alloys that human beings used to make tools. These days, craftspeople enjoy using it to create more refined objects. Its warm colour – deeper toned than copper – makes bronze a popular choice for lighting. Habitat has used it on the interior of its ‘Grande’ lampshade (from £60; habitat.co.uk), as has British design brand Original BTC on its ‘Titan’ pendant light (£239; uk.originalbtc.com). True bronze enthusiasts will fall for Cole & Son’s African-inspired ‘Ardmore’ wallpaper range, particularly ‘Matrinah’ (£80 per metre) and ‘Senzo Spot’ (£75 per metre; cole-and-son.com), which both allow entire rooms to bask in the glow of this sophisticated hue.
Bronze lends weight and structure to off-kilter designs that might seem kitsch when made from other metals. The quirkily architectural ‘Don Diego’ side table from Bellavista Collection (from £1,000; bellavistacollection.com) is a case in point – it’s composed of twin hammered bronze struts joined at the top to form a handle. For something more monumental, it’s hard to beat Fredrikson Stallard’s ‘Hybrideae’ planters (from £10,578; fredriksonstallard.com), made by forming tiny models in terracotta, digitally scanning them and then enlarging the design – fingerprints and all – before finally casting them into otherworldly pale bronze sculptures. Although playful, these designs have a strength and permanence to them, too – like the Artemision Bronze, they are made to last.
Its warm colour – deeper toned than copper – makes bronze a popular choice for lighting