Dezember 2025
Künstlern: Chris Gutkind & Katherine Gutkind
Katherine Gutkind:
A number of years ago during a period of ill health and being housebound, I needed a goal. I had been thinking years before of restoring tennis presses after a friend of mine gave me one, framed with a photograph in it. She swears I gave it to her but I thought it was the other way around. To this day, we do not know who had the original idea.
I was just about able to get to some car boot sales, charity shops, junk shops with help and friends also looked for me. I was able to get a collection of presses together (including some badminton and squash racquet presses) and started my small craft enterprise.
What I love about them is the variety of shapes, the different ages, the various closing mechanisms and the wood.
I have purposely kept the metal rough and ready - not too cleaned up. The wood though has been sanded down and moisturised over and over and over.
The perspex (plexiglass) is the main item I have to source. Each press has different dimensions so each set of perspex has to be cut for each individual press. The presses sit well on a mantelpiece but I have provided a hanging mechanism if needed.
Modern tennis racquets (and presumably badminton and squash too) do not use presses as these were used when the strings were made out of gut. Now they are by and large synthetic.
I have also found and sold two black plastic presses and one tan plastic press.
I dread to think of all those presses which have been thrown into the garbage lost forever.
A number of years ago during a period of ill health and being housebound, I needed a goal. I had been thinking years before of restoring tennis presses after a friend of mine gave me one, framed with a photograph in it. She swears I gave it to her but I thought it was the other way around. To this day, we do not know who had the original idea.
I was just about able to get to some car boot sales, charity shops, junk shops with help and friends also looked for me. I was able to get a collection of presses together (including some badminton and squash racquet presses) and started my small craft enterprise.
What I love about them is the variety of shapes, the different ages, the various closing mechanisms and the wood.
I have purposely kept the metal rough and ready - not too cleaned up. The wood though has been sanded down and moisturised over and over and over.
The perspex (plexiglass) is the main item I have to source. Each press has different dimensions so each set of perspex has to be cut for each individual press. The presses sit well on a mantelpiece but I have provided a hanging mechanism if needed.
Modern tennis racquets (and presumably badminton and squash too) do not use presses as these were used when the strings were made out of gut. Now they are by and large synthetic.
I have also found and sold two black plastic presses and one tan plastic press.
I dread to think of all those presses which have been thrown into the garbage lost forever.