Week 2

Given project the Maker's Palette this week in which we were asked to pick an object from a selection available and once chosen to interrogate that object through drawing and annotation in order to identify the reasons for the selection.  These reasons provide a starting point for investigations as well as revealing what drives us as practioners.

The object I had chosen was a Gestetner Symbols Plate together with its outer cardboard sleeve and it was the sleeve I was drawn to.

Initially it was the colours I was drawn to - the duck egg blue/green backgound and bronze typography- which I thought very evocative of the mid-century era.  But I was also drawn to the signs of age and wear and tear that were visible on closer inspection - the stains, spashes, blemishes, creases, tears - the hallmarks of an object well-used.  I was particularly fascinated by the way a mark evidenced soemone's use of the object - that they had left a physical trace of that moment and that that moment had now passed, perhaps decades earlier.  I liked the way the age of the object was evident, not only in the colourway, but in the torn, creased corners of the sleeve and the patina produced after years of handling.

Lines of enquiry suggested by the tutor were

• research-wise to look at practioners such as Susan Collis and the Out of the Ordinary exhibition.  Also metalsmith Helen Carnack who uses industrial enamelling techniques to create functional objects with interesting surfaces/patinas.
• in the workshop to investigate ways of achieving the colour and patina, using cold as well as hot enamels, also treating the metal to achieve a rusted or aged appearance.

It was later on in the week that I was struck by the similar blue/green colour of the lichens growing in my garden.  I liked the way these had grown over years, that the objects were not new but signs of the passage of time were clearly visible.  I also like the idea of nature making its mark on these materials - claiming ownership of them.

Week 1

Tutorial this week asked us to identify our motivations, practice, media and future ambitions for the coming year, which would in turn inform our decisions on where and whom to visit during London Design week.

• For me, central to my motivation is the ability to be able to make a living from products that I have enjoyed creating and that have a sense of humour or character or narrative and those that are at the same time functional.
• Within this ideal, I would like to take a hands-on approach to my practice, however I understand that in order to sustain making at a commercial level it would likely to be necessary to incorporate production techniques at some point in the making process.
• Media-wise, I have always enjoyed the idea of using a number of different materials together - I feel that the contrast automatically draws attention to the materials used.  I like the idea of using natural materials or those materials that carry the effects of nature and/or passage of time.  In particular I would like to produce objects that evoke a memory or diffrent time or place.
• My future ambtion incorporates all of the above through working for myself and dictating my own working hours.  However I realise that this may be a more long-term goal and that I am likely to have to supplement any income gained through making products with part-time employment elsewhere at least to begin with, preferebly in an arts and crafts setting.

In London I visited Origin and Tent.   Exhibitors work that I found particularly inspirational were:


Heather Gillespie, a glass artist (http://www.gillespieglass.co.uk/)

I think the thing that appealed to me about her work was that she had drawn inspiration from nature for her Rope Grown collection and the way mussels and oysters are grown.  I found the incorporation of the rope and the contrast that provided with the glass especially attractive, as well as the fact that the object was functional - a light - and that the fine detail in the engraving drew you in closer to the object.

On speaking to Heather she mentioned that commissions form the majority of her paid work.  The piece above took about 4 or 5 days to complete, retailing at £2,000, the cost of the rope itself making up the bulk of this sum.  She also said that on graduation she had spent over a year in the Czech Republic learning traditional copper wheel engraving techniques which meant that she was now one of only 7 practitioners in the UK with this expertise.

Another exhibitor's work that attracted me was jeweller Amanda Caines (http://www.amandacaines.co.uk/).

Her pieces included a mix of found objects from clay pipes, broken figurines, wood, porcelain and pottery fragments and more which she transforms into beautiful, wearable pieces.

I was drawn to the mix of materials and the fact that the separate elements were found objects and often broken and imperfect - bearing the scars of a former life.  Although I don't picture myself making jewellery I would like to use similar materials to make an interior products such as a chandelier.

Other exhibitors I liked were:

http://debbie-smyth.com/, http://www.rowboatlondon.co.uk/, http://mizuyo.com/, http://sophiewoodrow.co.uk/, http://www.helennoakesjewellery.com/, http://glasscathedrals.com/

most of which included a sense of humour or narrative in their work.

My visit confirmed for me my choice of craft over production, finding the latter's quite bland and repetitive in its use of streamlined materials and lack of detail and interest.  Whilst I realise that such objects chief aim is their functionality I would like to think that this functionality could be combined with a narrative or materials with more character or a sense of history.