Greg Kent is a wood turner who specialises in the creation of lace oak sculptures. His work, Tea and Imperial Sympathy, is an English tea service made of oak. Using salvaged wet oak, he turns the wood until the walls of the piece are 2mm thick. This is then sandblasted to create a lace effect by exposing the growth rings and medullary rays. For Kent, this piece exemplifies the fragility of nature and its strength. In making a Victorian tea service, he is referencing the importance of tea in our Imperial past, for example, as the driver for the Opium Wars. This work brings together the exploitation of the Empire and raises questions about the UK’s future place in the world.