This post was first published on adamoxford.co.uk and is reproduced here with his permission. Thanks Adam!

Hand made quality, that is.

In Ancient Greece, Plato used the idea of a table to discuss the philosophical notion of form. This table, however, is much more practical – it was built by Grade 8 students at Good Hope, a school in rural Zambia that Headmaster George used to teach in. Makes my Garfield penholder I made at a similar age look a bit rubbish, doesn’t it?

The thing is, most of these children are from families of subsistence farmers who are mostly illiterate. Giving them a real skill like this to fall back on is incredibly important – there’ll always be a demand for skilled carpenters.

This is what George is trying to achieve in Simakakata – it’s the simplest, most clear expression of his vision there is.