Welcome to Gate Cottage, an 18th Century English Cottage where nature offers artistic inspiration at every turn. A unique setting with a year-round garden nestled among the historic flint embraced fields of Kent, Gate Cottage acts as both muse and resource benefactor to Scott Wittman's artistry.
When Scott is not creating hospitality brands for Gorgeous Group, he's making sculpture from the wood and stone found in local forests, and capturing across multiple creative platforms the floral majesty found in his ever blooming gardens.
You are invited to join Scott on his creative journey through the idyllic English countryside.
Flower Photography
I photograph flowers in our traditional Cottage garden in situ, using natural light and intensely contrasting backgrounds. I do this to emphasize the removal of the flowers from their natural habitats and to focus the eye and attention on their unique shapes and textures. It’s a way to capture the fleeting nature of the flowers. It’s also a reminder of the beauty that hides in plain sight, providing an opportunity to see beyond the flower’s surface beauty and make an oasis of calm for the eye. In this, our eyes can wander and contemplate what lies within such elegant creations of nature.
I’m inspired by Karl Blossfelt’s microscopic details, the fragility of Irving Penn’s flower photography, the minimalism of Robert Mapplethorpe’s compositions, and the boldness of Marimekko’s textiles.
The images were photographed during Spring/Summer 2020 and have been memorialized in a variety of mediums, from greeting cards to table linens and more.
Flint Stone Photography
I love the imperfections embedded in the stone, the various colours, and the unique facets created over time. Each piece of stone has a unique history to it and really comes
alive under the camera lens.
I’m inspired by Charlotte Perriand, the pioneering French architect, designer, and multidisciplinary creative force. She would beachcomb the shores of Normandy for inspiration, photographing sea-smoothed lumps of driftwood and rock. To her, they were elegant jewels of the sea.
The images are available as photographic prints.
Sculpture
COLLABORATOR TO NATURE’S ARTISTRY
The Kent forests and flint stone enjoy a long, symbiotic history - a history that inspires me to create sculptures that bring the two elements into beautiful concert. I look for flint with unique sculptural qualities, and design a new piece around its shape. Each sculpture is unique, reflecting the one-of-a-kind nature of the raw materials.
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of stone-tool production, demonstrating that Neanderthals were living in Kent about 110,000 years ago. These early residents knew how to light and maintain fires using flint, and they relied on spears as their main hunting weapons, made by “knapping” the stone into shape.
Flint has captured the imaginations of craftsmen for centuries, including artisans who have used it on flat surfaces of churches from around the beginning of the 14th Century. Stones with naturally formed holes often carry folklore, a sort of oral sculpture inspired by a mineral that has functioned as muse to centuries of creative types.
The
Studio
My studio is a wooden barn built in the 18th Century and located next to the cottage. It’s where the hay was stored and farm animals once took cover. The structure has an amazing feeling to it and evokes a strong sense of history, which I feel passes through to my sculptures because the wood I use for my sculptures has been stored in the rafters for years. The loft is the perfect place to sketch out ideas and lose myself in the process of creation, whilst starring out the window at the meadow beyond.
About
Scott
“Art is in everything” Charlotte Perriand
Part of the passion economy.