When we were approached by the Coldplay team to create pianos that embodied the ideas behind their latest album it was a very special opportunity to make something that celebrated musicians, makers and lives across generations and cultures. Coldplay’s ‘Everyday Life’ is a double-album, comprised of ‘Sunriseʼ and ‘Sunsetʼ, launched with two live-streamed performances in Amman, Jordan, on November 22nd. One at sunrise and one at sunset.
‘Everyday Life’ atmospherically weaves together personal and universal themes, through a multi-layered composition and design philosophy. We were delighted to work collectively with a select team of skilled artists, craftspeople and piano technicians to build these unique and beautiful instruments for Coldplay using old pianos, technical expertise and creative magic!
The Vision
Production Designer Misty Buckley’s vision for ‘Everyday Life’ was underpinned by the concept of finding hope in something broken; a weaving together of places and people through music.
The central theme was mending. Something of particular potency in these times of social and environmental crisis and a topic very close to the bands’ heart, highlighting the potency of time worn objects from daily life. In celebration of the transformative power of restoration and renewal inspiration was found in the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi, or golden joinery. This ancient practice uses precious metals to reunite fragmented pieces of ceramic, highlighting the repair in gold rather than attempting to disguise it. Relating to the tradition of Wabi Sabi, finding beauty in impermanence and imperfection. The fractures don’t represent the end of that object’s life, but essential moments in its history.
Creating the Pianos
The pianos that we created were built up using parts of pre 1900 pianos, pianos that were considered scrap but had originally been exquisitely made by the master craftspeople of their time. The worn and broken sections came together to become renewed, working instruments, still showing the stories of age and the lives they had been part of, just as with Kintsugi. Together our team of piano technicians, visual artists and craftspeople selected, dismantled, repaired and remade a myriad of piano parts and casing, transforming scrap, uniting the old with the new, on a journey of restoration and renewal to make the pianos for Coldplay’s Everyday Life performances.
Textiles
The history, vocabulary, making and mending of textiles around the world was central to the guiding aesthetic for the whole project. We talk of lives being interwoven, that we are part of a social fabric and of the rich tapestry of life. Inspired by textiles and mending processes from across cultures, we created stools and fabrics to adorn the pianos. Tapestry weaver and sculptor Julieann Worrall Hood worked with us on the aesthetics for the pianos and collaborated with applique and embroidery artist Charlotte MacMillan, who beautifully brought these ideas to life in textiles for the sets and the band’s clothing. Inspired by patterns and use of colour found in textiles from the Ottoman Empire they produced pieces made up of appliquéd layers of fabric fragments, symbols, lyrics and trimmings, bringing together the cloth, colour and patterns of people from around the world.
We want to give a big thanks to Coldplay for inviting us to work on this project with them and wish them all the best on this amazing journey. As a business we are committed to recycling. We are passionate about utilising existing materials to create magical instruments that will help to inspire young and older to engage with this wonderful instrument. We would also like to give a very special thanks to all the hard work our team delivered; Jon, Marc, Heather, Tom, Bruno, Nathan, Moe, Jay, and collaborators put into the project, especially Misty Buckley, Richard Olivieri, Julieann Worrall Hood and Charlotte MacMillan. It wouldn’t have been possible without everyone working together, and we look forward to working on further projects in the future!
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Watch Coldplay band members discussing the inspiration behind ‘Everyday Life’
Some photography courtesy of Charlotte MacMillan.
