Updates from Rosy Greenlees
NEARLY AUTUMN ALREADY – NEARLY TIME FOR ORIGIN AND THE LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL
Yes, already summer is slipping away and the days are slightly shorter – which means, amongst other autumnal delights, that it’s nearly time for Origin, relocated to Old Spitalfields Market and retimed to September to enable UK makers to have the opportunity to engage with the many international visitors to the London Design Festival (LDF).
Spitalfields is one of London’s most historic, vibrant, culturally sophisticated destinations and I am very much looking forward to taking Origin there and to introducing the design audience to the best of contemporary craft and to the people who make it. There is opportunity to have a quick peek at the exhibitors in advance on the Origin website here
And you can have a sneak preview of our new touring exhibition Lab Craft: Digital adventures in contemporary craft at Tent London before its official launch at the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh, Greater Manchester in October. 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. To see some of the new work on show click here
Alongside Origin and Lab Craft, we are also delighted to present Tables & Chairs; new contemporary voices in wood as part of LDF, in partnership with our Craft Champion, Priscilla Carluccio. On display at Few and Far in South Kensington from 18 to 26 September, Tables & Chairs will show the breadth and depth of craft and design skills currently being used in contemporary furniture through the work of 12 makers. All the work on show has been made in 2009 or 2010 and these new voices challenge our ideas and preconceptions of what tables and chairs look like and how they are made. Read more here
And we look forward to the other contemporary craft on show at the London Design Festival this year: Cockpit Studios’ Trail including the Curiosity Pop-Up, A Living Space at Contemporary Applied Arts, Craft meets Dance at Craft Central, The Shape of Things at Flow Gallery and Ceramics in the City and museumaker at the Geffrye Museum.
EXHIBITIONS
Outside London, we are looking forward to our new touring exhibitions rolling out this autumn.
In addition to Lab Craft, our CraftCubes continue to place contemporary craft in new contexts with two cubes showing at the Frances Bardsley School for Girls in Romford and one cube showing at the newly re-opened Worksop Library this September. CraftCubes move away from the traditional exhibition format and offer a walk-in, immersive experience. To find more click here
Back in London, we were very pleased to install eight works from the Crafts Council Collection in the Ministerial Office of the Department for Culture Media and Sport in July. The focus of the display is porcelain and the eight selected works all push the use of this beautiful but often technically difficult material beyond its conventional boundaries. In addition, the furniture project Bodging Milano was displayed in advance of its public UK launch at Designers Block at the London Design Festival at the end of September. Read the press release here . We have previously loaned objects from the Crafts Council’s Collection to government departments and we are delighted that the Minister has chosen to use the opportunity to raise the profile of contemporary craft.
CRAFT DELUXE
Following our conference Assemble 2010 in June, we noticed a trend for global brands to highlight their craft “credentials”. Our report Consuming Craft (read the summary here ) shows a significant shift in consumer demand towards value-centred products, services and experiences which meet emotional, as well as functional, needs. It seems that now appearance matters less than provenance and conspicuous consumption is seen as wasteful and irresponsible. Craft as opposed to design, luxury brands and art, is seen as personal, authentic and genuine. Brands acknowledging this zeitgeist for craft and the handmade include Camper, Levi’s and Louis Vuitton, all aligning themselves with craftsmanship in recent advertising campaigns.
JOIN THE DEBATE:
The Craft Action Network for educators is now live and discussing, amongst other topics, how we can develop a more intuitive generation of problem solvers through the teaching of craft skills. All those with an interest in craft and education, join the conversation here
Meanwhile we are currently finalising the “legacy” version of the Assemble website, with free access to all the content of the conference – we will let you know when it’s up and running.
And a reminder that you can now follow both the Crafts Council and Crafts Magazine on Twitter and “like us” on Facebook. Don’t forget that all these virtual conversations and debates revolve, ultimately, around real people creating real, up-to-the-minute singular work as part of their contribution to the economy and society. We believe in the value of the virtual as a way of making that message ever more clear.
POLICY UPDATE
Read our policy update here. The summer recess means that it is short and sharp this month although even August brought the opportunity to respond to the government’s consultation on the new Regional Growth Fund and the Mayor’s draft Cultural Strategy for London and we have give a craft perspective on Vince Cable’s recent speech on future research priorities for universities here
OUT AND ABOUT
Since my last update, I have attended the Arts Council’s briefing for regularly funded organisations and a lunch for incoming London Chair Veronica Wadley alongside meetings of the Creative & Cultural Skills Board, Visual Arts UK and The Cultural Leadership Programme/ European Association for Philanthropy and Giving Breakfast Round Table on Philanthropy. Coming right up to date, I spent an enjoyable and constructive day in Farnham with meetings at the University of the Creative Arts, Craft Study Centre, Farnham Maltings and New Ashgate Gallery.
Closer to home, the entire staff attended our annual awayday which enabled the whole organisation to debate craft in the context of current government priorities and initiatives in the ever-entrancing surroundings of the Geffrye Museum where we were also interested to hear about their expansion plans.
Meanwhile, to single out two events attended by colleagues, the symposium on Museum and University Collaboration organised by the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design included keynote speeches by Ed Vaizey, Roy Clare and Anne Boddington, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Brighton University to stimulating effect, and we were delighted to attend the opening of The Shape of Things at Flow and Art in Action where our Craft Matters bag-hack was enjoyed by many, was equally engaging in a different way.
Crafts Council Press Releases this month
CraftCubes at Worksop Library
Lab Craft at London Design Festival
CraftCubes at Frances Bardsley Visual Arts Centre
Tables & Chairs at Few and Far
