Mike Smith Studio

These are examples of a series of ‘compressed’ sculptures we have made for Angela de la Cruz.

Mike Smith Studio fabricate and crush the aluminium boxes to Angela’s specifications, each one a very specific size, both before being crushed and afterward.

We weld up the various boxes and shapes, then anneal the aluminium to soften it for crushing, which is all done by hand in a controlled way, to ensure we reach exactly the right finished size.

Every piece folds and crushes differently, sometimes splitting and tearing the metal open, so before sending them to Angela’s studio for painting we send photos to her for final approval, or sometimes she drops by our studio in West London to see them and suggest any changes.