In fine metal

One of my favourite features from the November/December issue of Inside Out has to be the pressed metal shoot, which was inventively styled by Vanessa Colyer Tay and wonderfully photographed by Sam McAdam.



The story was partly inspired by an observation our editorial director, Karen, made while T-shirt-shopping for her son. She couldn't help noticing how one store had used a sheet of pressed metal – "usually the preserve of 19th-century restorations" – as a striking backdrop. She and Tracy, our creative director, then decided they wanted to showcase this interior trend. So Vanessa carried out her what's-on-the-market detective work, and started finetuning the overall look of the shoot. A swatch of storyboard sketches, visual concept ideas, and well-sourced product images later – and all the discussion that these things spark – the feature was developed and ready to shoot.



For Vanessa, the best part about the assignment was exploring metal's surprising attributes, often in discussion with the product makers.

"I really wanted to get the right balance between hard and soft in this story. To me, metal is a very flexible material, sometimes hard and edgy, and sometimes soft, glistening and feminine."

You can see these visual contradictions throughout the story, with the intricate lift and curve of the Tord Boontje lights (and its waves of fine-cut detail), to the near-pixellated look of the angular furniture throughout.

So what was the worst thing about the shoot? "Wiping fingerprints of furniture before shooting!" exclaims Vanessa. "Oh my gosh, what a challenge."

And was it a muscle-aching pain lugging around all the metallic pieces for this shoot?

"Totally, just look at the light on the double-page spread," she says. "Imagine carrying that around! Definitely one to flex the abs on."



That said, there were lots of upsides to the feature, including "how wonderful my assistants Amy and Imogene were and continue to be".

Also, Vanessa nailed "the ultimate" sourcing find: "I was very pleased with the opening shot in which I had a military dog tag customised for the shoot. I know it doesn’t sound very glamorous, but when a touch of the unexpected works perfectly, I love it!



The thing I love most from the story is the pink 'paper' plane that Vanessa commissioned for it (see double-page spread, above). Our designer Grace came up with the look of it, while Vanessa "trekked around to find the perfect shade of neon pink, and then took both perspex and design to FX Plastics who helped out with the laser cutting".

This particular object has since inspired a little childhood reminiscing.

"I have big brothers and was always envious of their plane-making skills, theirs were always more technical than mine, and most importantly, flew further," she says. "Not much has changed since then, although I’m sure that now mine are prettier."

Lee Tran, deputy chief sub-editor