Illustration by Assa Ariyoshi

Steel cycles

Born in a furnace blown by Monsoon winds,
first a fine-edged dagger fit for a king. Then to
Damascus in the hands of Assad, before British
suburbia as Voysey’s pocket-watch spring.
An industrial turn as a train-track rail; the
Swansea-to-Mumbles line and a first for Wales.
Defence and descent follow fast after. The Great
War. A grenade. Unexploded. Two young men and
a crisis averted. Then onto Javi’s toe-capped feet,
those boots taking him deep into Potosí.
A gas pipe, a sewage pipe and a Sheffield-made
chef knife. Until Olly Stool. Its tubular twist-base
standing Guild-marked in Peckham.

Click here to view the design that inspired this piece of writing.

Writer: linkedin.com/pub/kate-monson/35/366/3a4
Designer: junctionfifteen.com
Illustrator: Assa Ariyoshi