After completing the podcast Presidential, in reverse order, I was fascinated to learn of George Washington’s concern and interest for how his surrounds should be decorated, what should be acquired and would it all look, well, “presidential” enough! It made me feel for just a moment that aesthetics were important if a statesman found the time for such contemplation. But that’s the end of that thread of thought, and where I start again is with the place the humble pinecone takes in design through the ages. One of my sons produced a short AI piece on this subject in all of
five, yes about five seconds. It was neat, it was accurate, but it lacked personality. That’s when I realised my pinecone journey was infinitely more interesting. Well, according to me anyway! I first noticed them in any real sense driving around Red Hill and surrounding areas. They were everywhere and plentiful. If you were lucky enough to find a broken branch with pinecones still attached, before some other local had spotted and retrieved it, you had, in my opinion a natural work of art. Something that could grace a large table, a console or even a spot on the floor. Since then, I have made it my business to fossick for pinecones every year. More recently I discovered plentiful supplies in the various parks of East Melbourne. When I’m through admiring them or decorating with them, they make for the most spectacular small fire. And my interest in these perfectly formed cases for seeds, expands to their use as a motif.
More typically, in design, it’s deployed as a finial, in small and large format. It’s use, which will be obvious to many, is its decoration of walls and buildings to great effect. Drive anywhere and it won’t be long before you will find its use around someone’s home. Smaller examples can be found in the ormolu decoration of period furniture and to great effect I might add. Wherever I see it deployed, it is always pleasing, as if its form was literally destined to conclude elements of design and motifs through the ages. And I’m pleased to confirm for my readers that I am not the only collector of pinecones in Melbourne.
Well, I knew that, but I do get giggles from several of my friends and family about this pursuit of mine that I now refer to as “pine coning”. On a cold, rather peopleless, Melbourne afternoon I was collecting just opposite the Fitzroy Gardens when a man spotted me and pointed to my activity as if to enquire whether, what he also did from time to time, was what I was doing. I recognised him, introduced myself, shook his hand and told him I knew who he was. It was Mick Malthouse, on his way to a game at “The G”, and he explained to me his agreement that they made great fires. He pointed to a spot back within Fitzroy Gardens and advised I’d find plenty there. That was it. We said goodbye to each other and since then, I’ve visited that “spot” several times and it has always yielded beautiful examples, and a fire or two.
By John Albrecht, Managing Director & Head of Important Collections
Top Image: Robert Richmond Campbell (1902-1972) Pine Tree Port Elliott 1966. Sold for $3,400
March 2025