Lab Craft at London Design Festival
Michael Eden Babel Vessel #1 in production at Digital Manufacturing Centre, Bartlett Institute, University College London 2010. Nylon and mineral coating Photo: Ed Reeves
Lab Craft: Digital adventures in contemporary craft is a new Crafts Council touring exhibition that previews at Tent London at London Design Festival from 23 to 26 September before launching at the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh, Greater Manchester, from 30 October to 18 December 2010.
Lab Craft features 26 makers who combine the hand, mind and eye, technical mastery of tools and material and aesthetic sensibility with cutting-edge digital technologies such as rapid prototyping, laser cutting, laser scanning and digital printing.
The exhibition is curated by design commentator Max Fraser and designed by maker Tomoko Azumi and features textiles, ceramics, furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting and much more.
Some of the most experimental names in craft and design including; Tord Boontje, Michael Eden, Gareth Neal, Timorous Beasties and Nina Tolstrup, feature in the exhibition, with many making new work. Pieces include;
Woven Wood by Gary Allson and Ismini Samanidou that explores how digital making methods can be used to translate magnified textile weave structures into timber. The duo have analysed the chosen weave structure and, via a number software packages, have converted it into a cut pattern for the digital router, resulting in a subversion of familiar and recognisable textile structure and pattern.
Bubble jewellery by Lynne MacLachlan that mimics delicate bubble and foam structures using a computer and digital generative technique which generates forms in a varied yet controlled manner. The results are made tangible by the use of rapid prototyping technology, and made precious by traditional lost wax casting into precious metal followed by hand-finishing and polishing.
Shine by Geoffrey Mann that has been created by a process that uses digital techniques to investigate the reflective properties of a metallic object; in this case the subject was a Victorian candelabra. A planar 3D scanner was used to document the reflective information, which was in turn used to create a rapid prototyped form, which has been cast. This piece renders the impossible by encapsulating the beauty of light shining off silver.
Tomoko Azumi has designed the exhibition with graphic designers OPX using digital production methods and materials. Two commissioned films will accompany the exhibition; one exploring process, showing footage of work being produced using a range of the new technologies and the other will be a series of talking heads with the exhibited makers and key figures in the field of digital making.
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Press images will be available from the 6 September from Jill Read, Press Officer, Crafts Council on T: 020 7278 7700 or email media@craftscouncil.org.uk
Notes to Editors
• Lab Craft will be part of Tent London at Old Truman Brewery from 23 to 26 September as part of London Design Festival.
• The makers featured in Lab Craft are;
1234lab, Gary Allson, Assa Asshuach, Tomoko Azumi, Tord Boontje, Melanie Bowles, Philippa Brock, Committee, Shelley Doolan, Michael Eden, Zachary Eastwood-Bloom, Jo Hayes Ward, Tavs Jorgensen, Chae Yong Kim, Lazerian, Lynne Maclachlan, Geoffrey Mann, Justin Marshall, Drummond Masterton, Gareth Neal, Daniel O’Riordan, Jo Pierce, Ismini Samanidou, Timorous Beasties, Nina Tolstrup and Daniel Widrig.
• Metropolitan Works at London Metropolitan University is the graphic sponsor of Lab Craft
• The Crafts Council’s goal is to make the UK the best place to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft.
o We believe that craft plays a dynamic and vigorous role in the UK’s social, economic and cultural life.
o We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to make, see, collect and learn about craft.
o We believe that the strength of craft lies in its use of traditional and contemporary techniques, ideas and materials to make extraordinary new work.
o We believe that the future of craft lies in nurturing talent; children and young people must be able to learn about craft at school and have access to excellent teaching throughout their education.
• 12% of the UK population visited a craft exhibition in 2009/10, and 18% participated in craft activity in the same year (DCMS/ACE Taking Part data update August 2010). (Taking Part is an ongoing survey being carried out by Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Arts Council England (ACE)
• More than 2.8 million visits were made to the Crafts Council website in 2009. To find out everything you need to know about where to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft 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.
