Taking Shape Began as a survey concerned with the erosion of original materials within Tredegar House. Using meticulous and precise methods similar to those applied by the National Trust a database has been created documenting just how much of the original oak floorboards within the dining room has been lost/destroyed. The conclusion of Taking Shape is a conceptual work with the primary objective being an attempt to create a bridge between two existing forms of conservation. These are Preservation and Restoration which are both a means to protect and enhance the aesthetics of an object or place. Although being very similar these ideas are almost polar opposites of each other and are both immaculately flawed.

Restoration is the form of conservation the previous owners of Tredegar House (Newport County Council) were using, and this is the act of bringing new materials into the house to rebuild and restore it to its former state. This raises questions to the authenticity of the building and this type of conservation has been a subject of debate for many centuries with a famous case of this being the Cutty Sark.

Preservation does not involve the addition of new material but instead it makes attempts to keep the object or place as original as possible with tasks like regular and thorough cleaning and regulating things like humidity and temperature. Obviously this is unsustainable and the object/place will eventually be claimed by time. 

Bringing this sculpture into Tredegar House creates a dialogue between these two ideas. Like the floorboards, it is made from locally sourced oak and like restoration it is an addition of material in the precise quantity of that which has gone missing from the room. The preservation side is the simple fact that the work essentially fills in these holes but it does so without ever disrupting the original order of the house.