{"id":494152,"date":"2025-10-12T17:52:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T17:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/494152\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T17:52:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T17:52:22","slug":"assemble-draws-on-folkloric-rituals-for-fibredog-shelter-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/494152\/","title":{"rendered":"Assemble draws on folkloric rituals for Fibredog shelter in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Architecture collective Assemble<\/a> has married thatch<\/a> and timber to craft Fibredog, a public artwork that doubles as a shelter<\/a> in London, on show as part of Frieze Sculpture.<\/p>\n

Located in Regent’s Park, the installation was created by Turner Prize-winning Assemble<\/a> for this year’s edition of the Frieze Sculpture art initiative, which runs alongside the London edition of the Frieze Art Fair<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"FibredogAssemble has created a dog-like sculpture that doubles as a shelter. Photo by Linda Nylind<\/p>\n

Fibredog is intended to resemble a mythical creature and responds to the event’s theme, In the Shadows, which explores darkness as a space for creativity, rather than as an ominous one.<\/p>\n

It is positioned among trees and logs on a site in Regent’s Park and was designed to have a looming presence that simultaneously feels like a natural and protective part of the landscape.<\/p>\n

\"Dog-likeIts design draws on folkloric rituals<\/p>\n

This concept draws on folkloric crafts and customs, such as the global tradition of handmaking figures, including the wicker man<\/a>, worry dolls<\/a> and corn dollies<\/a>, to confront anxieties.<\/p>\n

Assemble also drew on den-building culture, traditional thatch roofs and the park itself to develop the material palette of cedar, woven wicker, sedge-grass thatch and guy ropes.<\/p>\n

\"FibredogAssemble wanted Fibredog to have a “looming presence”<\/p>\n

“Trained as architects, we are used to building objects at a larger scale generally, and for this year’s Frieze Sculpture brief it felt even more exciting to create a sense of looming presence, a spectacular being, referencing the wicker man or an object which can be read as part of the landscape,” Assemble partner Maria Lisogorskaya told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“Some conceptual threads include how folkloric crafts and rituals offer a cathartic creative framework,” added partner Mary Anderson.<\/p>\n

“It’s been interesting to highlight a human impulse to make things in the face of the unknown and the potential power of that for better or for worse,” she continued.<\/p>\n

\"ThatchIt is built with thatch, wicker and timber<\/p>\n

Fibredog’s body was designed to emulate a thatched roof, offering shelter within the park and “blurring the line between architecture and art”.<\/p>\n

It was created in collaboration with basket maker Mollie McMillen<\/a>\u00a0and master thatcher Mark Harrington<\/a>, while the cedar structural frame was developed with furniture manufacturer UniFor<\/a> in its factory outside of Milan.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Granby<\/p>\n

Assemble transforms two derelict terrace houses into Granby Winter Garden\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond creating a playful and intriguing sculpture, Assemble wanted Fibredog to draw attention to the potential of local and pre-industrial materials.<\/p>\n

“While traditional building crafts like wicker and thatch might seem a world away from lots of Londoners’ daily lives, reflecting on how things are made and what has been passed down through generations highlights a human capacity to question, invent and solve things,” said Anderson.<\/p>\n

“This is something that we think is important to keep in the public consciousness and something that we see as being under threat.”<\/p>\n

\"FibredogIt was built with basket maker Mollie McMillen and thatcher Mark Harrington<\/p>\n

Fibredog will be on show at Frieze Sculpture until 2 November 2025. Assemble is now looking for plans to rehome it after the event and is in touch with the owners of various parks and public spaces.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2010, Assemble is a multi-disciplinary collective that works across architecture, design and art. Its previous projects include Granby Winter Garden in Liverpool<\/a> and “skatable sculptures” created for Creative Folkestone Triennial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Assemble unless stated otherwise.<\/p>\n

Frieze London<\/a>\u00a0runs from 15 to 19 October 2025. See Dezeen Events Guide<\/a> for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Architecture collective Assemble has married thatch and timber to craft Fibredog, a public artwork that doubles as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,117440,4022,393,77,41674,257,162695,126129,126130,69315,162696,16,15,144077],"class_list":{"0":"post-494152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-assemble","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-frieze-art-fair","15":"tag-london","16":"tag-sculptures","17":"tag-sectionall","18":"tag-sectionarchitecture","19":"tag-shelters","20":"tag-thatch","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-wooden-architecture"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115362474384170880","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}