Hand Built at London Design Festival
Entrance to Harvey Nichols by Charlie Whinney
A showcase presented by the Crafts Council for the London Design Festival.
Hand Built is a Crafts Council presentation of work by five established, UK-based craft makers with extensive experience of fulfilling commissions in the architectural and public realm. Showcasing examples of their previous and current commissions, Hand Built demonstrates how these makers’ knowledge and understanding of their chosen materials enables them to produce unique, bespoke pieces which respond creatively and imaginatively to the criteria set by the commissioning architects and agencies.
The makers featured in Hand Built are;
Gary Breeze, lettering sculptor
Gary Breeze works predominantly with wood and stone, creating public and private commissions and exhibition pieces. He has worked on a number of projects including the Scottish Parliament and a memorial piece for victims of the Bali bombing. For Hand Built Gary Breeze will be showing lead castings and presenting images of a piece created for an Oxford University courtyard.
Walter Jack, designer for the built environment
Walter Jack Studio create a wide range of work for public realm improvements. Clients include local authorities and developers, schools, hospitals and communities and they also act in Lead Artist and Consultant roles. For Hand Built Walter Jack Studio is presenting a sample of a concrete wall that is being created for a space in Cornwall alongside a scale plaster model of the commission.
Eleanor Long, glass artist
Eleanor Long works with glass to create private and public commissions and one-off artworks that exploit the effect of natural light, and the shadow, tones and edge that can be created. She is concerned with linking the built environment to natural elements and for Hand Built she will be presenting models from an outside wall piece she completed for Modus Operandi Art Consultants.Ptolemy Mann, weaver
Ptolemy Mann works in partnership with architects, art consultants and interior designers to produce hand-dyed woven textile pieces for domestic, corporate and public spaces. More recently she has worked as an architectural colour consultant. For Hand Built Ptolemy Mann will be presenting a series of woven pieces alongside a presentation on a project she undertook as colour consultant for Kings Mill Hospital Notts.
Charlie Whinney, furniture maker and designer
Charlie Whinney uses locally sourced wood to create installations for retail, office and corporate spaces and will be creating a site-specific installation for Hand Built. Using his signature steam-bending technique the piece will wind its way from the entrance of the gallery into the gallery space echoing a recent commission for the entrance and windows of Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge.
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For more information or electronic images please contact Jill Read in the Crafts Council Press Office on Tel: +44 (0) 20 7806 2549, Email: media@craftscouncil.org.uk
*Visitor Information *
Location: The Design Embassy is located near the London Design Festival press office in the Sackler Centre for Arts Education, V&A
Date: 21 to 25 September 2009
Times: 10.00 to 17.45 daily and 10.00 to 22.00 on Friday
Notes to Editors
• The Crafts Council is the national development agency for contemporary crafts. It aims to position the UK as the best place in the world for making, seeing and collecting contemporary craft.
• For further information about the Crafts Council visit www.craftscouncil.org.uk
• The Crafts Council is supported by Arts Council England. Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. As the national development agency for the arts, it supports a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Between 2008 and 2011, Arts Council England will invest £1.3 billion of public money from government and a further £0.3 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
