Ed Ritchie

“Injury knots” 30.01.2026 - 25.02.2026 

Injury knots, looks to the material properties of burl wood; a growth that trees produce in response to an injury or sickness; a storage space, preserving their genetic code and serving as a survival mechanism in case seeds cannot disperse. Valued highly as a material, we often inlay burl into lifelong objects; furnitures, instruments and detailings, kept in families and stored as assets.

Milled to a veneer, each set of works compare the subtle differences and growths in the varied burl grain of redwood and maple, spanning time and seasons. The structures echo familiar architectures, describing various ways in which we process and line our interiors. Acting as models or examples, they are dressed with elements, damages and repairs. Exploring environmental distress, fragility and rarity.

Ed Ritchie’s practice largely involves site specific installation and sculpture. His work centres around specific material properties, their interactions with environments and the ways in which we try and understand the invisible infrastructures that operate around us.

You can view Ed’s available work here