In a River a Thousand Streams, designed by Adam Nathaniel Furman, combines swirling natural forms with geometric architectural references
‘I am totally obsessed with The Shard – I’ve had five birthdays there,’ says designer and artist Adam Nathaniel Furman, creator of many a colourful intervention in the public realm. How serendipitous then that their latest public artwork, a 57m-long mosaic, is literally a stone’s throw away from the skyscraper, near the entrance to London Bridge Station.
The Shard – incidentally one of the mosaic’s sponsors – was just one of the many local inspirations for the design of In a River a Thousand Streams, made in collaboration with the London School of Mosaic (LSoM).
Furman is passionate about the importance of art in public space, and has latterly built up a track record in permanent installations of their own. These include Croydon Colonnade, an arcade of columns clad in 3D porcelain tiles, and Abundance, a 50m artwork in Paddington Central inspired by the colours of a British garden in spring.
For their latest intervention, Furman was inspired by both the present-day flow of diverse peoples ‘pumping in and out’ through the busy station, as well as the flow over many centuries of people being drawn to that part of London. Situated just south of the Thames and outside the City of London, it is an area that has often, they say, attracted illicit activity.
The mosaic covers a curving wall alongside a pavement at London Bridge bus station and provides a pleasingly handmade and colourful counterpoint to the surrounding glassy architecture. The competition brief required that the mosaic could be made by volunteers both young (from eight years) and old, and the inevitable variation in quality is embraced by Furman as part of the inclusive nature of the collaborative commission.
Furman’s design is a lively concoction of swirling natural forms combined with geometric built environment references. While reluctant to name too many names, local buildings by Heatherwick Studio and Seifert are among many referenced somewhere within the design. As the mural tapers down towards the river, the design ‘ unravels’ into looser lines.
The design was printed onto paper, then divided into large panels and then again into 800 small sections, each with strands colour-coded for construction using 21mm square glass tesserae in full or half squares. In total, there are 250,000 glass pieces, in 28 colours. While the overall design was controlled, there was scope for limited variation by the many makers, who included MA students. The mosaic is the LSoM’s largest-ever commission and took 70 volunteers two years to construct off-site before it was installed at London Bridge.
Seeing this joyful commission in situ, it’s impossible to not also think of Eduardo Paolozzi’s vibrant masterpiece at Tottenham Court Road underground station. This turns out to be a much-loved artwork and key reference point for Furman.
‘It’s a benchmark for me of great integrated decorative art,’ they say, adding that their dream is to design a tube station artwork.
Furman is a vociferous advocate for the beneficial role that public art can play in delighting the eye, reducing anxiety and creating a sense of place, and he has clearly found a creative sweet spot in public realm work. At London Bridge, a projected 21 million people each year can enjoy this work as they surge in and out of the station in a constant flow of diverse humanity.