Origin returns to Somerset House

Ceramics by Ikuko Iwamoto; Photo Mark Crick, 2008

Origin: The London Craft Fair returns to Somerset House from the 7-12 and 14-19 October 2008.

Each week Origin will present a new selection of over 140 contemporary craft makers across all disciplines, including ceramics, glass, textiles and jewellery. This year Origin will also feature The Origin Intervention, an interactive textile piece, Thursday Lates and a series of workshops, demonstrations and talks, offering an unrivalled festival of craft and celebrating all that is special and uplifting about the hand-made.

Origin will feature prestigious makers from countries around the world, including Japan, China, Thailand, the U.S, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark plus a huge amount of home-grown talent from all over the UK.

Anthony Roussel and David Poston create jewellery out of laser-cut wood and Tate & Lyle tins respectively. Aneta Regel Deleu’s monolithic ceramics contrast with Andrea Walsh’s delicate bone china and glass vessels and Jacob van der Beugel’s earthy turned pots. Sarah Thirlwell’s hand-turned wood vessels with recycled yoghurt pot bases and Clare Malet’s transformation of steel cans to shimmering gold leaf vessels confirms crafts’ eco-credentials and John Grayson’s Victoriana-inspired automata and Samantha Bryan’s enchanting fairy figures appeal to the child in everyone. Newcomers Rebecca Ellen Edwards, who stitches and prints whimsical illustrated wallpaper, and Marie Retpen who creates pillowy and melted-like glass vessels, both fly the flag for exciting new talent. Clare Henshaw and Abbott & Ellwood whose work is held in the Crafts Council Collection, Crafts Council Development Awardees Merete Rasmussen and Andrew Lamb and Next Move graduates Esther Lord and Rebecca Gouldson are amongst the makers that present us with a diverse and rich selection of work.

As well as the high-quality craft available to buy, this years’ Origin offers more than usual with a hands-on experience of craft for all visitors. Alinah Azadeh will be creating a large textile structure in the pavilion that will ‘grow’ over the course of the two weeks. Ribbons with written thoughts of Origin visitors will be woven together to form the fabric of the free-standing structure creating a visual record of people’s experiences of Origin.

The Origin Intervention is a show co-curated by the Crafts Council and the Somerset House. Work by nine selected artists will be shown throughout the pavilion and around Somerset House. The works span a variety of disciplines and approaches to the creative process, using materials in challenging and unexpected ways. Matthew Durran combines glassmaking and photography techniques to stunning visual effect, Julia Lohmann creates delicate lighting from the stomachs of sheep and David Cushway uses film to explore the material qualities of familiar domestic ceramics.

A series of workshops, talks and events over the two weeks will allow you to learn more about craft and Thursday’s late night shopping events will give you the chance to enjoy the playful side of craft, contributing to world peace by making a pom pom with Amy Lamé and her Pom Pom International Project. And the winners of the Wesley Barrell Craft Awards and the inaugural Thomas Lyte Modern Heritage Award will be awarded at Origin and work by all the finalists will be on display in the pavilion.

“There is so much to see and do this year at Origin we hope people will enjoy experiencing the depth and breadth of what contemporary craft can offer.”
Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director, Crafts Council

For further information and press images please contact Jill Read, Press Officer, Crafts Council 020 7806 2549, media@craftscouncil.org.uk

For Somerset House press enquiries please contact Tom Coupe, Head of Press, Somerset House, 020 7845 4610, tom.coupe@somersethouse.org.uk

—Ends—

Visitor information
Week One: 7-12 October
Week Two: 14 -19 October

Opening Times
Tuesday to Friday 11am – 7pm
Saturday and Sunday 10am – 6pm
Late-night Thursday open until 9pm
Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1AA

Tube: Holborn, Temple, Embankment

Tickets
Tickets are available from Ticketmaster
Book online at www.ticketmaster.co.uk or call 0844 847 2393
Full price ‘single’ entry £8 / concession £6
Full price ‘One visit in each week’ £12 / concession £10
Season pass (unlimited entry) £15
Under 12 years free
Illustrated catalogue included in the price of admission given out at the event.

Further Information: www.craftscouncil.org.uk/origin, 020 7806 2510

Notes to Editors

• The independent selection panel for Origin this year was; Charlotte Abrahams, freelance style writer, Jacqueline Gestetner, collector, Mary La Trobe Bateman, trustee of The Making, Norma Starszakowna, textile artist, and Peter Ting, design consultant.

• The Thomas Lyte Modern Heritage Award is for British makers in business less than three years. The brief was to take inspiration from English culture and history and create innovative, beautiful but functional pieces for the home or travel. Almost 200 new makers entered. The nine finalists will be on display at Origin and the winner will be announced at the Origin Gala evening on Monday 6 October. For Press Enquiries Contact: Julia Smee, MLPR Tel: 07951 249 856 or jules@mlpr.co.uk or Marie Louise, MLPR Tel: 077689 13377 or ml@mlpr.co.uk

• The Wesley-Barrell Craft Awards 2008 are designed to highlight the wealth of creative talent we have here in the UK and make crafts more accessible to a wider public. The Awards are aimed at makers who have been working professionally in Britain for five years or more and prizes will be awarded in two categories – Furniture and Textiles for Interiors. Short-listed pieces will be showcased at Origin 2008 following a touring exhibition next summer including Wesley-Barrell’s flagship store in Wigmore Street. For further information please contact Ali Griffiths or Nikki Dunstan on telephone: 01993 893108 or email pressoffice@wesley-barrell.co.uk

• The nine artists that feature in The Origin Intervention are Fernando Casasempere, David Cushway, Matthew Durran, Amy Houghton, Julia Lohmann, Kristine Tillge Lund, Joanna Manousis, Rowan Mersh and Richard Sweeney.

• The Crafts Council website has information on all the makers and a series of maker profiles. During the fair there will be day-to day updates of the programme of events.

• The Crafts Council is the national agency for contemporary crafts. The Crafts Council aims to position the UK as the best place in the world for making, seeing and collecting contemporary craft.

• The Crafts Council is supported by Arts Council England.