Artist: Nicola Ellis

Size: 33cm H x 20cm W x 13cm DEach box comes with a radial pin tumbler lock and two keys. Due to the nature of the finish, each box has a different colour and texture.

Do you have lots of small precious things but worry about their safety??? Harness the powerful equation of art + security = confusion of burglars, and put this concern to bed. The dead powder lockbox is a fully functional security box made by Ritherdon & Co Ltd, with a limited edition ‘Dead Powder’ finish. ‘Dead powder’ is a waste powder cleaned from the Ritherdon powder coating spray booth, after every colour job. Once extracted from the booth, it accumulates in a large IBC tub. The overall colour of this waste changes as a result of the various colour jobs processed in the paint shop. ‘Dead Powder’ documents this change over time.

In 2018 Nicola was matched with Ritherdon & Co Ltd - a manufacturer of steel enclosures based in Darwen, Lancashire - for an Art in Manufacturing residency, as part of the National Festival of Making. The artist and manufacturer really hit it off, so Nicola began the ACE funded two-year placement ‘Return to Ritherdon’ at the manufacturer in 2019, with a focus on studying the ecosystem of the Ritherdon factory floor and its associated business operations. Some of the work made during this placement will be exhibited in a solo exhibition at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester which opens in March 2021. Nicola’s placement has now been made permanent at the Ritherdon factory, so keep up to date with the most recent activity at her website www.nicolaellis.com and take a look at other Ritherdon products at www.ritherdon.co.uk. Sales of each limited edition work go towards funding Nicola’s future factory-based activity.

Artist Biography

Nicola Ellis is interested in studying complex ecosystems and environments, in order to understand how their individual parts interact and function as a ‘whole’. Her recent works include sculptures, drawings, videos and data visualization. They are the outcomes of observing, documenting and subverting the intended function(s) of existing processes or communication structures within manufacturing and research organisations. The works are reflective of relationships between people, materials and processes, and contribute something back into that triangular dynamic. This might be in the form of disrupting an established process, by presenting an existing quality of an object or infrastructure in a different way, or by carving out a new way of operating – as an artist and an outsider - directly within the non-art context. Nicola is a member of the Incidental Unit - the most recent iteration of the Artist Placement Group. She is also a member of Para-lab, a group of artists, makers and material scientists based in Greater Manchester and Yorkshire who cooperate, collaborate and discuss the overlap between their respective practices. Website

Postage: Free within Greater Manchester £15 DPD elsewhere.

*Order by the 16th of December to receive in time for Christmas

Photography by Nicola Ellis