Origin The London Craft Fair: Week 2
by Bonnie Alter, London on 10.22.07
Week two of Origin The London Craft Fair, the queen of all juried craft shows, has another 150 craftspeople displaying their wares. There is a different feel to the show this week: there are almost a dozen stands with exquisite delicate white Japanese ceramics, less wood furniture and more interesting clothing and as always some wonderful oddities.
Cathy Miles reinterprets old jewellery-making tools from Birmingham. She puts together found objects to make “new” “tools” (pictured left) that look grimy and dirty; almost Dickensian in feel. Jenny Walker makes use of old bits of Victorian pottery found in Manchester and creates sterling silver “cups”, jewellery and wall pieces that incorporate the familiar blue and white pottery pieces (pictured right).
Laura Marsden is back again this year and is still using recycled plastic bags as the root of her work. Through a mysterious process, she is doing needle-made, delicate “lace” (out of the bags) which she forms into corsages(pictured left) for a jacket, and small and large wall pieces. Adrienne Rogers has created some soft, luxurious hand-knit shawls as well as blankets (pictured right) from creamy loopy mohair baby alpaca. Hannah Lobley uses recycled paper layered and glued into blocks and then works it on a lathe to make unique and mundane shaped objects.
Antique fabrics and remnants and left-over decorator sample books form the materials for lavish and layered clothing by Helen Bird. These tops and bags have an antique, rich almost medieval feel to them. Jacqueline Mulvaney also uses old fabrics such as silk cotton and linen, and stitches and embroiders them to form “medals” and awards for the wall or a coat.
Louise Frances Evans uses old photographic images, antique textiles and jewellery to convey a sense of social history in her work. On display were vintage shoes which she had decorated with bits of pearls and added an insole that was an old photo of a woman. Her booth was so evocative, with tea-dyed dresses and old vintage wood shelves lining the cream coloured walls.
Having said there was little wood, we have to note the loopy and wonderful lights by Sixixis, using their patented pressed, steamed wood technique (pictured). Sarah Thirlwell made vases in organic shapes out of sustainable wood on a lathe and filled and coloured them with synthetic plastic. Also notable were Garth Neal’s benches, created by endless layering of sustainable wood. :: Origin The London Craft Fair
