Arkansas stones or sharpening stones are used, as the name indicates, for sharpening metal tools. I can’t remember the exact year this stone was given to me, but I definitely know it was a present from my dear friend Julia Wild. Her family business, Gebrüder Wild, was specialised in the export and sale of natural Arkansas stones, rough and cut. Over the years, she gave me several boxes full of rough material. I still have them packed in my studio and once in a while I take one from the box just to look at it. They often look like sinuous landscapes formed by hills and valleys.

I have always been interested in the relationship of something that grows sensuously and at the same time speaks of sharpness.