The beginning of ‘Snocker’.
I ‘celebrated’ my 50th birthday last month and have to confess the number was a bit startling. It brought up a lot of questions for me and left me feeling a bit discombobulated.
Most of the questions I asked myself led me to ‘Snocker’. Actually, the answers to all my questions from now on are simply ‘Snocker’.
Shadow cast from the 2nd floor window signage onto the linoleum tiled floor at our new studio.
What is Snocker?
Well, I’m glad you asked, actually. Snocker is our new studio space and where I plan to resolve all my future age-related issues. It is a new space for us to expand our design practice and to really explore our process, experiment with materials and get messy. A space where we can make mistakes, learn about new ideas, refine our sculpting skills on a larger scale and launch our new pieces under our Batch Living brand.
SNOCKER is the nick-name we have given to the building. Originally a snooker hall, bar and restaurant the words ‘Snocker - Bilhar - Club - Pool’ are lettered onto the upstairs windows. As far as I know the word ‘Snocker’ is not Portuguese, but a mis-print for the word ‘Snooker’. We liked the word immediately and the name has stuck.
Snocker is also fulfilling my warehouse dreams. When I was in my 20’s in Brisbane I dreamed of living in a warehouse and being an artist. I wasn’t brave enough but Leonhard had the same vision and he rented some space in a dubious part of town, which I borrowed and used as my own. In my 30’s I dreamed of living in a warehouse in London but sadly, they were so expensive, damp and pretty grim to be honest, so we lived in a modest little ‘flat’ and rented a small windowless studio in a large warehouse on a canal in East London. It was pretty grim, and damp and expensive to be honest but we loved going to work there each day. When that studio was flagged for redevelopment we moved our studio into another warehouse in our 40’s that was light and airy but aptly described by one of our interns as having ‘a crack house vibe’. Oh no!
So you can see where this is going… ‘Snocker’ is our own warehouse space that we will be working in for our 50’s. Too old to live in a warehouse? Probably. Do we care? Nope.
Now, whatever the question, the answer is simply ‘Snocker’.
Where will the 25 new table samples go? Answer - ‘Snocker’.
Where will we go on holidays this Easter? Answer - ‘Snocker’.
Where can the kids roller skate when it is raining? Answer - ‘Snocker’… well, maybe…
We look forward to keeping you up-to-date on our progress and thanks for letting me share this part of our journey with you.
Leonhard and Karla x