Processional Cross, Durham Cathedral - Design product
- Submitting institution
-
York St John University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 526
- Type
- P - Devices and products
- Location
- Durham Cathedral
- Manufacturer
- -
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of production
- June
- Year of production
- 2016
- URL
-
http://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/5017/
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The Durham Cathedral Processional Cross is a single-component output, designed and manufactured in 2015. The cross was commissioned by the Durham Cathedral Chorister's School Association and the Durham Old Choristers to mark the 600th anniversary of the School’s foundation. The three driving principles of this £2000 commission were to create a product that could be used by the children of the Chorister school in the Cathedral’s processions, reference the history of the Cathedral, and be built to last, preferably for the ‘next 600 years’. The research process realised this brief by developing a human-centred design that paid particular attention to its materials.
Durham Cathedral was built between 1093-1133 and houses the shrine of St Cuthbert, whose Pectoral Cross is the emblem of the Cathedral and the Chorister School, which dates to 1416. Prior to Pattison’s commission, the most recent cross had been designed for the Cathedral by Henry Wilson in 1912 and consecrated in 1917. The ornate design and scale of Wilson’s three-metre-tall cross is emblematic of the privilege assigned to its ritual importance, rather than consideration of its function. The 2015 processional cross took the signature form of St Cuthbert’s Cross as its foundation. This iconography was synthesised with David Pye’s consideration of craftsmanship, durability, and the historical significance of wear ([1968] 2015), and the balance of function, light and surface of Silversmith Robert Welch. This approach was catalysed by the ‘design thinking’ of IDEO evinced by Tim Brown (2009), that underpinned the consultation with the cross’ users, the choristers. Consecrated in a special commemorative service led by former hostage negotiator Terry Waite in 2016, the aesthetic, balance and scale of this cross was designed for children, making it easier for them to carry and so support the everyday ceremonial life of the Cathedral and its community
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
