Form:Function
Highlighting the work of a carefully curated collection of ceramicists, woodworkers, jewellers, metalworkers and glass artists, this exciting exhibition looks at the relationship between the form and the function of contemporary craft objects. Functional pieces for the home or purely decorative, craftsmanship is celebrated in an exhibition highlighting the breadth of talent from across the UK.
Image: Emma Johnson
22nd July - 30th September 2023
Ceramics & works in mixed media...
Justine Allison
Since leaving Camberwell College of Art in 1988, Justine has been primarily working with hand-built porcelain. Her work addresses the boundaries between function and decoration. Form is paramount to her, function is a driving motivation, but it is the aesthetics of a piece that are key to her making.Her work is very much concerned with the simplicity and beauty of the clay and incorporating pattern and texture as well as glaze to create subtle, unique variations. Thinness and movement are very important in each piece.
Jo Davies
Jo Davies is a ceramic artist specialising in wheel-thrown porcelain. Her practice includes hand-making her fine porcelain design range of vases, vessels, lighting and unique objects alongside running a Teaching Studio specialising in wheel-throwing. Creating a balance of simplicity and surprise is essential to Jo Davies’ ceramics - forming connections between object and audience by making shapes that appear soft and inviting to touch. Every piece is hand made by Jo on the potter’s wheel and is a reflection of her design intentions as well as the shape of her hands and those that will use it. In recent years, her signature black and white glazes have been developed to include shades of red, gold-leaf and cobalt blue surface design elements but shape and form continue to be the most important factors in her work.
Jessica Thorn
Jessica’s Inspiration arrives from antique kitchenware and when she is immersed in her own culinary acts, whilst cooking, sharing food at the table or my favourite topic, sharing recipes. Made from porcelain the clean simple design of each piece aims to capture the spirit created from these honest conversations and the feelings of joy when cooking; and Jessica believes these emotions come alive and are passed on again when being used at the table with friends and family and most importantly when in the hands of its owner.
Blottworks (Dan Morrison)
BLOTT WORKS is award-winning artist-engineer Dan Morrison who handmakes his unique functional statement pieces in his workshop in the foothills of the Yorkshire/Lancashire border and sells them around the world. Dan likes architecture. And machines. He also likes birds, people and other natural forms. His past experience in engineering, theatre design, sound composition and funeral directing have all led him down the road to BLOTT WORKS, which he launched in 2014. His work draws on these things, not always intentionally, to produce items that have a strong sculptural, mechanical or architectural aesthetic, radiating personality and character, and bringing a sense of ritual or play into everyday activities. He uses materials with a rich industrial and decorative heritage.
Jane Crisp
A trug, traditionally, is a shallow basket made from wooden strips, intended for light duty marketing or gardening, perhaps. While this narrow description does fit Jane Crisp’s reinvention of the form, it leaves a lot unsaid. To the conventional repertoire, she has added skills drawn from her experience as a furniture maker who has also been inspired by boat-building practices and materials: steam-bending, copper nails, and an overlapping “clinker” construction. These techniques allow her to create shapes that are indeed somewhat redolent of a ship’s hull, or perhaps a bird’s wing, folding in upon itself. Crisp, who has also lived on a narrow boat, cites riverbank reeds as an inspiration for her forms. But the real value in these elegant objects is not so much in their references, the technical aspects of their construction, or even the personal experiences that they reflect. No: it is the way they sit within space and time, poised and confident. In their vertiginous spiralling lines, we see the trajectories of past and present intersecting.
Judith Glover
Hull-born and Edinburgh-raised, Judith Glover is a ceramic artist specialising in handbuilt sculptural pieces. Now based in North Yorkshire, her ceramic work is often inspired by painters such as Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), Joan Eardley (1921-1963), John Piper (1903-1992) and JMW Turner (1775-1851). Judith’s studio pottery is produced very slowly, mostly using the age-old technique of coiling. From start to finish each item takes around six weeks. She produces only about fifteen pieces each year.
Emma Johnson
Emma Johnson studied M(des) 3D Design and Craft at the University of Brighton, graduating in 2016. Since then she has focused on establishing her own creative business designing and making handmade ceramics in her Brighton-based studio, specifically focusing on slipcasting in porcelain. Emma's functional homewares are often based around architecture, incorporating precise, angular forms and a degree of buildability into the pieces. In early 2017 Emma was selected to take part in Hothouse; an intensive development programme for emerging makers run by the Crafts Council. Emma is currently creating and developing work from her studio in Phoenix Brighton.
Louisa Taylor
Louisa Taylor studied a BA (hons) degree in 3D Design: Ceramics, at Bath Spa University (2000-2003) and then spent a year working as a production potter in rural Lincolnshire. This was followed by a Masters degree in Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art, London (2004-2006). Louisa set up her ceramic business in October 2006 and is based in Brighton, East Sussex where she produces her tableware range for shops, galleries and collectors in the UK and internationally. Alongside making her work, Louisa is a Senior Lecturer on the BA (hons)/MDes 3D Design and Craft course at the University of Brighton and a short course tutor at West Dean College. Louisa is a professional member of the Crafts Potters Association and Contemporary Applied Arts, London. In 2012, Louisa undertook a six-month post (January – June) as artist in residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Louisa is the author of Ceramics: Tools and Techniques for the Contemporary Maker, published by Jacqui Small Publishing (2011). “The source of inspiration for my work stems from museum collections of 18th Century dining vessels. The subtle colour palette is directly influenced by hand painted decoration on historical tureens. I deconstruct each individual colour and match it with glaze and combine this with honed forms. Each piece is made from porcelain and thrown on the potters wheel. I create components, which I then cut, freely assemble and finish by hand.”
Maggie Williams
Maggie Williams has been making glass since 2003 and is still fascinated and challenged by this versatile medium. Crumple is a collection of distorted vessels in various shapes and sizes. The ideas for these pieces were born from observing nature, the unfurling of leaves and the bursting of buds. These ideas are interpreted in colourful contemporary blown work using the very quality of molten glass to create and distort the vessels. The collection consists of tall vases, round vases and drinking glasses. The drinking glasses are very tactile and a pleasure to hold.
Please note the images below may not be works featured in this show. Once the show starts we'll be adding photos and a virtual gallery tour so you can explore what the maker's created for this special exhibition.
Jewellery...
DeeLyn
Inspired by the urban surroundings of day to day city life, DeeLyn’s work is architectural and geometric at its core. She creates bold wearable structures, which are often convertible, inviting you to manipulate the piece to your liking. DeeLyn starts a collection by making small sculptural forms. She then tries to work out how the form could work on the body, manipulating the shapes further and making adjustments for different types of jewellery. DeeLyn really enjoys this process of transforming a random object into an object with function. DeeLyn has used recycled guitar strings, pyrite and cast resin in her work. She shies away from using typical gemstones, instead she is drawn to the unconventional, like pyrite. “I love the chaos of it. How it's so geometric but also just completely chaotic - a bit like me! Although DeeLyn is drawn to unconventional materials, most of her pieces are created from ethical recycled sterling silver, using traditional silversmith techniques - so they’ll definitely last the test of time. What makes them different is the big, bold designs. Creating miniature sculptures that people can wear is such a brilliant way to make art accessible and portable. “Seeing my ideas out there in the world, being enjoyed by other people, or being shown in top galleries and shows all over the world is just such a wonderful feeling.”
Laura Drayson
The unpredictable nature and untamed beauty of the historical Cornish coastline is a constant source of inspiration for Laura. Her designs are informed by the textures, colours, shapes and landscape found there and the connections they evoke. Tin mine ruins and footpaths clinging to the clifftops, patterns and marks made by the history of industry, weathered surfaces and personal journeys all provide unending inspiration. Laura works mainly in silver and semi precious gemstones. Gemstones allow her to introduce colour into her work using a palette that echoes her coastal inspiration. Designs develop in the making process, allowing the natural characteristics of the gemstone shapes and the forms of the loose ground on the footpaths to interact with techniques of making. Each stage made by hand, nothing is identical, no piece is exactly the same. Laura studied BA Hons Contemporary Crafts, in University College Falmouth. Graduating with a First Class Degree, she now works in her studio, on the wild north coast of Cornwall, making beautiful pieces of wearable sculptures. Laura is now an associate member of Makers South West ( formally The Devon Guild of Craftsmen )
Amy Stringer
Whilst studying BA (Hons) Jewellery and Metalwork at Sheffield Hallam University, 2012-2015, Amy became inspired by the city’s combination of modern, industrial architecture and large green spaces. During this time Amy developed her skills as a silversmith and began to experiment with what is now her signature material, cement. Amy’s graduate collection of cement, silver and steel art jewellery had her recognised across the board. She was shortlisted to the final four for New Designer’s Designer of the Year award and invited to exhibit at Art& and Lustre under their graduate schemes. Amy’s graduate collection was also awarded a Bright Young Gems highly commended award by International Jewellery London.
Cement is found in almost every building throughout the world’s cities, but the material is often under-appreciated and its beauty can be overlooked. Within her designs, Amy sets elements of nature such as moss into the cement, forging a connection between architecture and agriculture. Complimenting her self-developed cement methods Amy designs striking silver, brass and steel metalwork details to bring the pieces together. Amy continues to grow her skills and collections and showcase her work in the UK and internationally.
Cristina Zani
Cristina was born and grew up in Italy. After graduating in Languages and Literature shemoved to Edinburgh to teach Italian. Following a career in corporate communication, Cristina decided to pursue her passion and completed an MFA in Jewellery at Edinburgh College of Art in June 2012. Cristina established her first workshop in the Lake District in 2012 and in 2016 moved back to Edinburgh where her studio is currently based. While searching for a personal way to elaborate on her vision of the urban landscape, she develops forms that are based on subjective observation, but invite the viewer to make new personal associations. Cristina mainly works with wood, which she combines with precious metals and sometimes stones. Her pieces are sculptural, bold and tactile; they are usually large in scale, but light to wear. Although they are based on preparatory sketches, Cristina’s way of working with materials is largely intuitive and instinctive. She does not tend to constrain herself to the initial drawings, but allows incidents to be part of the creative process and this often produces unintentional and more interesting results. This way of working often sparks ideas for new pieces or brings Cristina to unexpected turns and if she is not happy with the final outcome, she starts the whole process again.
SEED Designs
Nicola Rawlings gained a BA with Honours in Combined Studies Design from the University of Leeds in 1999 and a PGCE from the University of Huddersfield in 2000. She has enjoyed a career in education and has experience in a variety of disciplines within the field of Art and Design. In 2011 the focus of her own work changed from a dream to reality and Seed became the beginning of a new chapter. Working from her home studio in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire she currently combines both teaching and selling as a contemporary multi-disciplinary designer maker. "My work begins as a wall of inspiration very like a mood board as I gather pieces of information; visuals, photographs or item’s I have selected for their colour, form or surface texture. I have always been fascinated with the idea of combining media in order to create a form of balance. The importance of sketching and having an exploratory approach is essential in the development of my work. Using collage, print and emulsion I begin by exploring line and shape through mark making. These compositions often evolve from ideas adopted from my wall of inspiration and translate into my work. Another important part of my process involves the sourcing of materials and techniques. I often construct sample pieces by hand exploring ways in which my studies can be transformed into contemporary wearable pieces. These studies are further manipulated and later translate into designs. My cross-disciplinary approach enables me to manipulate traditional techniques exploring the relationship between the material and myself. It is important that my work is created by hand offering my customers unique and contemporary statement pieces that are individually made. My focus is to create timeless pieces that are created with care and attention, designed for the everyday as well as the extraordinary."
Sarah Packington
"I design and hand make colourful dyed acrylic jewellery in my studio in Brighton. I came here from London to study Wood, Metal, Ceramics and Plastics BA(hons), graduating in 1991. My shapes are inspired by mid century textile designers such as Lucienne Day and Joanne Groag, and abstract artists like Mondrian and Miro. I love their joyful shapes and colour combinations. I endeavour to push the boundaries what can be done with my chosen material, and love to experiment with different textured surface patterns and new ways of joining components. Many of my designs have hand etched lines on clear acrylic which is dyed and polished back to reveal the coloured pattern. I use a laser cutter or bandsaw to cut out my shapes from sheet acrylic, and hand make all my ear wires in silver. All designs are highly finished to give a precious feel. My jewellery can be found in outlets throughout the UK, and in 2014 a collection was sold at Tate Modern with the ‘Matisse Cut Outs’ exhibition. The British Museum sold a collection alongside the exhibition 'The American Dream: Pop to the Present' in Spring 2017."
Hayley Grafflin
Hayley is a Liverpool based jeweller making work based on a deeply personal narrative. Working intuitivley with a mixture of innovative and traditional materials, she creates flowing forms of weathered surfaces which evoke a sense of bittersweet melancholy. "My new collection (Be)Longing is a deeply personal narrative of my past, present and future; of distant memories and dark influences. Taking inspiration from the urban environment in which I have immersed myself, I intuitively create flowing forms of weathered surfaces which evoke a sense of bittersweet melancholy. Using both tradtional and innovative materials, I subvert and surprise the senses, creating a tangible connection between myself and the wearer. With each piece I get closer to myself and where I (Be)Long."
Please note the images below may not be works featured in this show. Once the show starts we'll be adding photos and a virtual gallery tour so you can explore what the maker's created for this special exhibition.
Check out the photos and Virtual Gallery Tour (coming soon) of the exhibition below. If there's anything you want to know more about or to check availability of specific pieces please just get in touch, we're always happy to help!