Richmond gates

It's the quick and the dead here in Richmond. For ages I was charmed by some wonderful blackbird metal gates in Bridge Road. I always promised myself that I would stop and photograph them - and suddenly they were gone! They had 'flown' away to make way for another highrise! I miss them. Discussing 'interesting gates' with a Richmond friend the other day he said "Oh you should go and see the blackbird gates in Bridge Road", "They're gone" I replied. He was also shocked and saddened. So you see what I mean! And so it was that I determined not to be 'too late' in the future. One of my favourite sets of gates are in Stanley Street just up from Swan Street. They fascinate me. A twirly here, a twirly there, it looks as though the creator couldn't stop!

A work of art - so much more interesting than a boring metal gate

But it was some gates at 208 Lennox Street - just down from the Cottage (between Bridge Road and Swan Street) that I've been watching for ages. And so one day I stopped to photograph them - only to be welcomed by the front door opening and the owner 'greeting' me! I'd never seen a soul in all the years I'd been passing them. But all was well once I explained my reason for snapping. And so I heard the story of the gates which the owner - Mark Schaller - had made himself. The piece-de-resistance of the gates are large globs of glass that look like crystals (they are what I will call 'the glob wastings' from the Pilkington Glassworks which were collected during cleaning of the machinery). Now Mark is a famed artist (I didn't know!!) and he showed me around his studio - an old Richmond drinking house. The Melbourne Art Series Hotels (Olsen, Blackman and Cullen) are soon to include the Shaller Studios in Bendigo. I was on 'hallowed' ground. We'll visit the studio in a later post - I'm waiting for a Vogue Living spread coming out soon to show you the 'before and after' photos. But this post is about the gates - and here they are in all their glory. Mark tells me that only one 'glob' of glass has been removed - stolen by a Collingwood supporter!!

Ye olde drinking house with hand crafted gates (you can just see the canvas stack inside)

A 'glob' of glass!

Up close and personal - 3 'globs' here

So the moral of this story is - take a photo when you see it - otherwise like the blackbird gates they might 'fly away' or a Collingwood supporter might help themselves to another 'glob' at the olde drinking tavern!