Liking the work is not really the point, though I do; it’s the skill demonstrated in the exhibition that is breathtaking. The perfectly constructed paper kites by Oh Jeahwan hanging behind woven paper baskets by Lee Young Soon below are a case in point. Ceramic panels by Lee Seung Hee use the material in a different way […]
Products
Korean masters at Tent: lacquer and Najon
The Korean display is, for me, one of the highlights of Tent due to the dazzling mastery of craftsmanship. This year, the exhibition Constancy & Change in Korean Traditional Craft included a set of wooden lacquered bowls by Park Gang Yong + Jung Sang-gil. Not only are the bowls carved to fit snugly in a […]
The Handmade Alliance
The Handmade Alliance, which I came across at Design Junction, is a social enterprise teaching sewing skills to prisoners and former prisoners to help train them in a career, thus reducing reoffending rates. There is a real shortage of skilled machinists and hand sewers in the UK for businesses needing small runs and equally a […]
Knifemaker Grace Horne at Made London
Made London is always well worth a visit and this time I found knifemaker Grace Horne exhibiting her work here for the first time. Each of her pieces has a story, being much more than just functional. The travelling mortician’s kit below came about after receiving a commission from a mortuary technician to reproduce their favourite cadaver needle. These scissors, called Twisted Seamstress, form […]
Silverware and jewellery at New Designers
New Designers already feels like the dim & distant past but not so! Here are some more photos of work which caught my attention. Integrating handmade silverware with everyday mass-produced items for the table, Glasgow graduate Kathleen Reilly ennobles the mundane with her work thus elevating the dining experience. I can see these appearing on wedding lists all over […]
Glass seen at New Designers
There is an innately seductive quality to glass. Charlotte Broadley, from Edinburgh College of Art, showed a collection called Deteriorate based as you may have guessed, on origami and the imperfections of a process of transformation. For me it was all about the geometric rawness of quartz and crystal. Jo Mitchell from the University of Sunderland […]