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A cluttered artist's studio filled with sculptures, tools and materials. Various colourful figures and abstract forms are scattered across workbenches and shelves under a beamed ceiling.

A look at the colourful work (and workshop) of Peter Shire

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Date
10 April 2012

Peter Shire has famously avoided definition. But, come to think of it, how can you accurately define someone who’s as happy making sculptures as they are chairs, teapots and toys? Shire’s work is colourful, amusing and compositionally striking, and his workshop – a sprawling warehouse space in Echo Park, Los Angeles, where he grew up – is a veritable cabinet of curiosities.

How do we know? Because the editors behind Sight Unseen – “an online magazine that takes readers inside the worlds of design, art, fashion, food, photography, and other creative disciplines” – have created a printed edition, Paper View, in which Shire’s studio is documented in all of its mish mash glory.

A complex sculpture made from a variety of colourful geometric shapes, rods and wires. The abstract assembly sits on a wooden table against a backdrop of a corrugated metal shutter and a ladder.
Above

Peter Shire’s studio. Paper View. (2012) Photography by Christopher Dibble.

A colourful, speckled storage chest with several drawers sits on a white shelf. To its left is a small easel holding a sketch of a person.
Above

Peter Shire’s studio. Paper View. (2012) Photography by Christopher Dibble.

A person wearing a blue and white striped shirt and a denim apron works on a dark grey object. They use a small tool to refine the surface of the piece in a bright studio.
Above

Peter Shire in his studio. Paper View. (2012) Photography by Christopher Dibble.

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About the Author

Alex Moshakis

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Alex originally joined It’s Nice That as a designer but moved into editorial and oversaw the It’s Nice That magazine from Issue Six (July 2011) to Issue Eight (March 2012) before moving on that summer.

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