British Craft Trade Fair 2012 – Jewellery Newcomers

The newcomers section at this year’s British Craft Trade Fair was an especially vibrant and lovely place, filled with exciting ideas and makers keen to talk about their work and how their businesses are developing.

Emily Knight:

Emily Knight's Stand

Emily Knight trained up in Glasgow and her work has a beautiful emphemeral quality about it. She displayed her distinctive silver and enamel pieces against hand drawn sketches – which looked so wondefully natural that you can’t help feeling that the walls were an extention of her sketchbook.

Emily Knight, Brooches

She’s got a wondeful eye for setting colours together without the enamels looking harsh and the fun, quirky details (like the little silver bicycles) makes them wonderful and light.

Emily Knight, bangles

Maneggi:

Then, just down the aisle from me was this lovely stand:

Maneggi - Ribbon Jewellery

featuring work from Maneggi, who, well – has a thing for ribbons … and wonderfully sculptural things she does with them too. With a really sensitive eye for colour she combines ribbons and pearls into little wearable structures:

Maneggi, Aqua and Pearl

 

They have quite a soft, vintage feel which is given a classic edge by her use of the pearls and other beads that give form to her pieces.

Karen Fox:

Karen Fox Jewellery Stand

And just one aisle over was the work of Karen Fox, another recent graduate with a passion for neat, structured pieces built up out of layers of texture. Her larger scale ruffle pieces (like the collar that you can just see on the left) wouldn’t look out of place at the ballet and have a defnite theatrical, Elizabethan flavour that makes you want to layer them up into giant sculptures.

Karen Fox, Ruffle Series

The whole show catalogue is online here for you to get a flavour of just how much craft work was on show.

It was a truly stunning collection of work from new and established makers alike which gives me a lot of hope for the future of the creative industries in the UK – it’s really wonderful to be working in so vibrant a marketplace.

British Craft Trade Fair 2012

Made in the Middle – MAC, Birmingham

I wandered down to the MAC in the wintery sunshine today and paid a visit to Craftspace’s new Made in the Middle exhibition which moved in a couple of weeks ago. Featuring work from 35 makers in the middle of the UK (and, bizarrely, at least one from Wales…) the show covers the broad sprectrum of contemporary craft from ceramics to textiles via silversmithing and glass.

Made in the Middle at the MAC

It’s great to see so much diversity in a show like this – there’s a lot to connect with no matter what your taste and, while obviously I was drawn like a magpie to the metalwork, I was also fascinated by this:

Made in the Middle - detail of Charlotte Clark's glass

It’s a close up of Charlotte Clark‘s cast glass sculptures which are just stunning. She cuts through blocks of glass that are filled with voids and swirls of colour to expose the rough textures within – this one contained a hole host of beautiful tones and bubbles that evoked a storm at sea.

Made in the Middle - Charlotte Clark

There’s a posied sense of balance about her work, while the shapes of the sculptures are all geometric their harsh, mathematical lines are broken as the internal bubbles and ‘flaws’ in the glass touch the surface. Working with a substance like this must make for a constantly suprising results …

Just next to Charlotte’s work is case full of Kevin Grey‘s silversmithing. He’s something of a rising star at the moment with his distinctive, layered pieces that are gently organic and show off a dedicated attention to detail:

Made in the Middle - Kevin Grey

One of the nice things about this show is that it’s set out to discover how people made their way into working in contemporary craft, whether they’re straight out of uni or have come into it as a second career. Kevin is one of the latter, with years of experience in the luxury automative industry impacting his work. This background, blended with traditional skills means that he’s pretty free to bend the age old ‘rules’ of silversmithing to good effect. On the Made in the Middle website there’s a super photo diary of how Kevin made one of these gorgeous pieces which is well worth a look, here.

Made in the Middle - Kevin Grey

And, as I was heading out I spotted these:

Made in the Middle - Marcus Steel

With industrial overtones these base metal and silver sculptures are part giant chess pieces and part art deco factory buildings. They’re suberbly constructed with neat, smooth lines and clever details that are understated yet elegant. The base metals that make up most of the pieces have been chemically treated to patinate the surfaces – leaving rich, deep colours that highlight the silver details.

Made in the Middle - deatil of Marcus Steel's work

I really would recommend a visit if you’e got an hour or so to spare. Made in the Middle is open at the MAC until the 15th of April then it heads off on tour around the middle of the UK, finally closing in July 2013.

Made in the Middle - feedback board

Desire Jewellery and Silver Show, March 2011

I made full use of my rail card on Friday and ventured down to Desire, a Jewellery and Silver Fair held annually in the Bank of England Sports Club in Richmond. I’ve never visited one of these shows before but the exhibitor list is prestigious so I was pretty sure that I’d be in for treat.

Another plus for going was to scope out the venue and see if I could apply to exhibit in the future. I’ve done the odd fair in the past where I’ve been disappointed on arrival with the venue, the quality of work or something else and have learned the lesson. So, this year I’m committed to visiting shows that I’m interested in  – or at least bending the ear of other jewellers I know who attend them.

Anyway, there were no anxieties about this one. It was lovely – from the complimentary bus to the venue:

(a helpful treat for the geographically challenged among us, thank you Desire)

to the venue itself.

A lot of shows of this profile feature a mixture of craft disciplines so in a way it was nice to just be surrounded by jewellery and silver makers. It must be how normal women feel when they stumble into Jimmy Choo… I had a blast looking at the extraordinary variety of work on show from people like Sarah Hutchinson:

Sarah Hutchinson

Her work is just gorgeous. It looks incredibly intricate on first glance but is, in fact, deceptively simple. She’s all caught up in experimenting with saw piercing and the result is floral and mesmerising. My favourites are the ones just brushed with a little blush of gold at the edges, they’re like sunflowers just caught in opening.

Alongside these was the stunning work of Michael Berger:

Michael Berger

He’s an eye catcher at any show he attends with his stunning and slightly unreal Kinetik Collection. This sense of unreality is helped along by the maker himself – he seems to make a habit of standing in his booth, looking nonchalant, as his little sculptural creations appear to flaunt the laws of gravity.

The way these things are put together is extraordinary (I’m still not quite sure that I understand how it all works) but do click the image which links to his website – there’s a subtitled video there that begins to explain things.

And I very much liked Hannah Souter’s work too. I haven’t seen it before, it’s so neat and lovely.

Hannah Souter

It reminds me a little of some of my own work, which might be why I identify with it so, but I wouldn’t say no to owning a pair of these beauties.

Sadly, the fair closed today, but there’s another in Winchester in November which will be well worth a visit too.

Wednesday, finishing work and opening Centrepiece 2010

Wednesday was an extraordinarily productive day.

Not only did I get to work on some new ideas that have been kicking around my head for a while:

Pebble Brooch Experiment

but I finally got my first set of snowflakes finished and up for sale too. These have been a bit of a nightmare, porous castings meant that the resin that fills them seeped out as is was setting, causing quite a mess and a lot of extra cleaning up. I’m not sure what went wrong in the casting process (I need to go and consult with my caster) but tiny holes throughout the silver are never good. Fortunately the initial leakage seems to have plugged the holes in them and the second layer of resin went on just fine:

Snowflake Pendants

They look lovely now that they’re all clean again. I’m currently sporting a purple one and once I finish cleaning the rest I’ll get them up in the Folksy shop. The ones I have sanded and polished are in the 2010 Centrepiece Selling Exhibition which officially opened on Wednesday night too. It’s being hosted by Symphony Hall and features over 30 designer makers form in and around the Quarter. It’ll be open until the 23rd of December so if you;re heading into the city for the German Market it’s well worth stopping by us too!

Centrepiece Private View gets underway

 

Giveaway – tickets for the Farnham Festival of Crafts

I’m doing a show in a couple of weeks at the beautiful Farnham Maltings, in Surrey. Taking place on the 16th and 17th of October and featuring 75 leading designer makers it’ll be a gorgeous showcase for contemporary craft and the perfect opportunity for some early Christmas shopping.

I have a couple of pairs of tickets for the event (worth £6) to giveaway as a little incentive for you all to make the trip down to Surrey and see us all. Check out the impressive exhibitor list here and leave a comment below to enter (or email me with ‘Ticket Giveaway’ in the subject line) and I’ll draw it next week!

The Worcestershire Guild’s Autumn Show

I spent the weekend doing my first selling fair with the Worcestershire Guild of Designer Craftsman at the Malvern Autumn Show. I joined the Guild back in January but this was the first opportunity I had to get involved with what it’s really about. The Guild is designed to bring individual craftsmanship to public attention, through fairs and shows, and encourage us craftspeople to make a living doing what we love.

It’s a noble aim and, looking around at the variety and quality of work on show this weekend, I think that they might just be achieving it.

One of the things I find when I do events is that people are always surprised by the sheer quantity of talented craftspeople around … and so was I when I stumbled across the Guild. I had no idea that so many of them were hidden away, scattered around Worcestershire, where I’ve lived for most of life. It’s clear that I don’t get out of the Jewellery Quarter and explore enough!

Among the jewellers on show were Sian Elizabeth Hughes and Melanie Hamlet (who runs the inspirational contemporary jewellery business, Kokkino) both of whom will be exhibiting at Goldsmiths Fair next week.

Left: Sian Elizabeth Hughes - Right: Kokkino

But I was really taken in looking at the Crafts that I have very little experiene of. There’s a staggering wealth of these in the Guild:

Marie-Therese King is a batik artist who creates original artwork in a medium that I only ever managed to get burned with, when I attempted it way back in school. Her inspiration ranges all through the natural world and her images are dealt with using a bright, bold palette that’s confident, assured and quite beautiful. She puts stunning levels of detail into her work, this was on of my favourites:

Marie-Therese King, Seagulls

though I loved this series too:

Marie-Therese King, Aquilegia and Honesty

And, just across the hall from Marie-Therese, hung the work of Rowan McOnegal. A stained glass artist Rowan’s glass panels made me want to build a cruck framed house, Grand Designs style, so that I had a home to do justice to her work. Based around botany and with a real rural feel Rowan combines colours and somehow works a sensitive, textured feel into the flat surface of her glass:

Rowan McOnegal, Pink and amber Sunflower

She says that she feels that “this medium perfectly combines her love of image making using drawing, painting, colour and changing light” and that’s shown off perfectly here:

Rowan McOnegal, Willowherb Portrait

Needless to say I’m now looking forward to the next Guild show, Innov8:

to be held on the 26th – 28th of November at  Number 8 in Pershore where another selection of Guild members, hopefully including me, will be on show.

Malvern Autumn Show 2010 – set up

I spent the day on the road today, going down to Malvern to set up for a weekend show. Malvern is a gorgeous little historical town but the driving wind and gloomy skies kept me from appreciating the view too much. Plus, I had to keep my eye on the SatNav to find the venue. When I got there I realised that it’s actually pretty hard to miss the Three Counties Showground. I’ve never been there before,  it seems to be mainly used for agricultural shows … and it’s huge. No really. I sort of expected some marquees in a field but this is what I was greeted with:

Yep. Huge. And that’s one hall. The event, The Malvern Autumn Show, is looking forward to welcoming 60,000 people across two days and includes everything from gardening to quality local craftware. It’s an epic selction and I’m not sure you could honestly see it all in two days but, if you do venture out to see it, drop by the Worcestershire Guild‘s stand and say hello to me!

Wirksworth Festival 2010

Wirksworth, in Derbyshire, is a strange little town. On one hand it’s very much a traditional 18^th-19^th century village with a slightly touristy feel and some rather wonderful views.

And then, every September, the creative energy of the place expresses itself beautifully in the form of the Wirksworth Festival. Suddenly, overnight, this seeming sleepy town is filled with a truly inspiring buzz of energy:

(Now, I realise that there’s no one buzzing with energy in this particular photo but I did take it at 7 am when I was up to get my stand ready. Once 10am rolled round and the studios opened there were plently of people out and about!)

So, for a whole weekend local artists throw open the doors of their houses, cottages, studios and garages to let the public wander ‘round, getting a first hand look at the creative process. This year there were a good sixty or so venues to explore – almost too much for one weekend – alongside performance events, community projects and 2 actors telling stories while driving you around in a rickshaw. (No, really, they stayed in the same B&B as me so I knew they were real …)

I got to participate by setting up a stand at one of two Maker’s Markets, filled to the brim with local and regional contemporary craft. You’ll be pleased to know that I made good use of my bunting:

and had some great comments about how summery my stand looked.

Of course I wasn’t the only jeweller there, Lucy Palmer had brought her gorgeous mythical pieces back to the festival, Laura Creer had beautifully textured work on show and I met the lovely Helen Shere too. Helens work has a wonderfully quirky and illustrative feel:

Helen Shere - Birds in the Garden Rings

She says that:

‘I am particularly interested in the use of pattern and naïve folklore in illustration and seek to combine these ideas in my jewellery.’

Her ranges are inspired by birds, nature and pattern, it was all so tempting but in the end I came away with one of these:

Helen Shere - Silver Birds Pendant

plus a little mushroom patterned dipping bowl (from ceramicist Mary Johnson) which will make a super present for my mum – who’s an olive fiend:

Mary Johnson - Small Mushroom Bowls

The only really sad thing about it was that I didn’t get to go and explore the towns trails myself, but with events all through September the festival is still going strong and I might get the chance to go back and look at some of the more permanent installations …

Making Bunting … Part One

Big day today.I went to Worcester to visit one of my favourite fabric shops, The Cotton Reel, on Broad Street. I was on a bit of a mission as I’ve decided to make some bunting to decorate my stand at the up-coming Wirksworth Festival. Bunting seems to rather in vogue at the moment and I think I’ve got the bug!

There’s a lovely treasury of bunting-esque goodies here that’s well worth a look and includes this beauty:

Bird on bunting purse from Dinky Daisy

So, after much umming and ahhing over colour and pattern combinations for my bunting I settled on pale blue and pale yellow polka dots:

It looks beachy and fresh (when photographed in better light, honest …) I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep using it through the winter, it looks quite summery really, but it’ll be lovely for next weekend – and sets off my little Tenby houses rather well I think.

I found the pattern for the pieces on this site and here are a few ‘in progress’ photos:

Tracing my template

Cutting with Pinking Shears

Lots and lots of triangles

And ready for ironing …

… now, to the sewing machine!