I’m a bit of a sucker for drawing with wire as I’ve used the technique myself in mixed media pieces. The appeal of three dimensionality and shadowplay can never truly be captured in a photo but these should give you an idea. I saw Helaina’s work at Made London where her trees caught my eye. It was only later that […]
One-minute blog of interesting things
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As a working contemporary artist I visit many exhibitions and shows, but sometimes it is the things I see that are part of daily life that capture my interest. My one-minute blog of interesting things reflects the fact that although we are increasingly time-poor, there is creativity all around us. Email me at info@carolinebanks.co.uk with your name and email to receive a weekly post that only takes 1 minute to read.
NEWH Scholarship stand at the Sleep Event
The Sleep Event includes an exhibition, conference, the Sleepotel and European Hotel Awards and is the international hospitality design and development event of the year. The NEWH (networking in hospitality), of which I am the Sustainability Director, has over the past few years been able to showcase the work of current scholarship awardees at the exhibition, giving them […]
The Cold Press studio and gallery in Norfolk
I met Ben Lawrence of The Cold Press at Tent where his tightly edited stand exuded calm amidst the general hyperactivity of the show. The Cold Press concept has a combination of activities: a gallery in Holt showing and selling work by artisits and makers and a print studio with cottage as artists’ accommodation. The feeling of serenity pervades throughout. I particularly liked Kai […]
Hierve Diseñeria: Alejandro Villareal’s cabinets
Alejandra Villareal of Hierve, a Mexican design studio, showed these impressive freestanding modular vitrines at Design Junction. Some people claim that the display cabinet has no place today but he and I beg to differ. Create your own bespoke display unit with different combinations of modules, internal storage and lighting. No rushed cramming permitted though – if you’re going to go […]
Vegetal Identity’s vertical greenery
Vegetal Identity showed an innovative way of introducing greenery to vertical surfaces at Maison & Objet. Plants are preserved using a special stabilisation technique giving supple and fresh looking greenery without any maintenance issues. I love the mix of mosses and ferns in these pieces with their variations of colour and texture. The whole thing is biodegradable so, if you want […]
Tape Gear accessories
I met Daniel at the Tape Gear stand during Maison & Objet where he told me about their collection of cork and recycled textile covers for those small sleek bits of technology now essential to so many of us: i-pad, i-pod, i-phone, tablet, laptop, Kindle… I really like the fact that it’s an indie music company that teamed […]
Hollywood Costume at the V&A
Aah, the V & A really is one of my favourite museums. Its latest exhibition Hollywood Costume has already proven to be a blockbuster so catch it if you can before the end of January. Give yourself enough time though – it took us over 2 hours get around and we weren’t dawdling. I particularly enjoyed reading about the research and collaboration […]
Mint London for contemporary design
I’ve been meaning to write about Mint for a long time and, now that they have sent me some photos, I can as this shop is one of the best places in London to view the work of contemporary makers. The images here are from the show I visited during the London Design Festival. They were still setting up […]
Community21 projects at 100% Design
I was really interested to see the Community 21 stand at 100% Design as their projects address sustainability and localism in design. Nick Gant of Brighton University gave me a quick overview of their stand illustrating recent projects. Here are a few of them. Nick and colleague Tanya Dean worked on Flipflopsam and jetsam, a project creating footwear made by locals from plastic collected from their local beach. […]
Arthur Analts’ latest products at 100% Design
You may have read about Arthur Analts from my piece on his money bowls at Clerkenwell earlier this year. I met up with him again at 100% Design to see his latest products. He showed Amid, a modular mesh screen this time with components placed either horizontally or vertically. I can see this working really well in […]