All Things Considered

Just Landed

We'll be busy re-hanging the gallery next week ready for the opening of our latest exhibition.

'Just Landed' is an exhibition of linocut prints by Penny Bhadresa.

Penny Bhadresa's work reflects her interest in the natural world, landscape, garden and architectural settings, everyday objects and art traditions of different cultures.

She’s drawn to subjects which have a strong sense of place, be it intimate and domestic or part of a larger landscape, incorporating into her work the underlying shapes and forms that impose structure and design on a subject. Colour, texture, pattern and line are all significant elements and together, combine to produce work that is strong and uplifting in its impact.

Please join us at the gallery on Saturday 7th April 2007 from 11am onwards for the opening of the exhibition.

Is Etsy the new eBay?

Gone are the days where I would sit, search, watch, bid and buy items from eBay in the hope of getting something special or perhaps a great bargain. I have now turned my attention to Etsy, a website for sellers of handmade items to showcase their wares. Etsy is a global web based craft fair and a fabulous place to discover new talent and buy affordable artwork as well as finding some great vintage items (strangely, no longer very obtainable on eBay).

To help with your searching, the developers at Etsy have come up with some excellent browsing tools.

- The ‘Geolocator’ shows a map of the world where you can click on any place in a country to find out what products are being sold by who.
- For the colour co-ordinated there is ‘Colors’, click on a colour and it simply returns items of that hue. Magic.
- There are also more visual and interactive ways of searching like ‘Connections’ and ‘Treasury’, which suggest items from members’ favourites as well as the more obvious and usual ways of searching through the categories.

Here are some of my bookmarked Etsy stores:

Knitwit - knitted gloves and accessories
FiFi Lapin -  fashion illustrations with a bunny twist
Fluffington - fabric buttons
Little Red Pear - retro fabric stuffed toys
Sugarloop - serigraph print illustrations
Simply Wood Rings - rings made from salvaged lumber

Another Lion...

I’m not obsessed with lions but when I came across this rather excellent silhouette, hand cut from original 1960’s – 1970’s wallpaper, I thought perhaps I should join Simon's gang and be a fan too.

Dutch designer Inke Heiland has created a menagerie of boldly shaped and highly patterned animals and also a Charlie and Lola inspired tree for the beasts to mooch around.

Through my curious investigations, it seems that they are only available on-line or in the New York kids store Romp.
 

Bawden & Ravilious

Early April sees the re-opening of the Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden.

The first show of the year, “In the Spirit of Edward Bawden & Eric Ravilious”, features work by artists – some emerging and others already established in their fields – who acknowledge the influence that either Ravilious or Bawden have had on their work.

The artists taking part in the exhibition are Chris Brown, Jeff Fisher (see Edward's Brain, right), David Gentleman, Fernando Feijoo, Alan Powers, Colin Wilkin, Andrew Kulman, John Lawrence, Mark Hearld, Jonathan Gibbs, Jonny Hannah, Ian Beck and Ronald Maddox.

The Fry Art Gallery houses a collection of work all loosely connect by the nearby village of Great Bardfield where an artistic community flourished either side of the second world war. Well worth a visit.

Find out more about the gallery at their website.

Lions

Without really thinking about it I seem to have become a bit obsessed with lions.

Not entirely sure why – it’s just they seem to keep cropping up in various design books from the 50s and 60s.

This example is by graphic designer Tom Eckersley. It was a submission for consideration as a logo to be used for the Festival of Britain in 1951 (Abram Games’ design was the one chosen).

Born in 1914, Eckersley studied commercial art and during the 30s produced posters for Shell and London Transport – with whom he worked for over 50 years.

We often stock original lithographs by Eckersley at the gallery – and you can see a range of his work on Paul & Karen Rennie’s website.

Coincidentally, out gallery/workshop is at 35 Red Lion Street and last Christmas we commissioned artist Mark Hearld to produce two limited edition linocut prints which we also reproduced as our Christmas card. The companion image (The White Hart) also reflected our location (at the corner of White Hart Street).

I’m going to create some rubber stamps of lion icons to use as an element on stationery etc. so if you come across across any other examples, please let me know.

Vintage and Original

If you like objects from past decades but have exhausted all possible enthusiasm for eBay’s endless pages of intriguing items, then you will enjoy the site Corolla Cream.

The stock is mostly home accessories from the 1950's, 60's and 70's mixed with some new fashion designs made from materials from the above mentioned era's.

Each item for sale is tagged with a girls’ name, which in itself is a mean feat (you’ll know what I mean when you see the quantity of stock). The names are old-fashioned, (or fashionable now), which gives the items a charm and vintage feel you perhaps wouldn’t have felt before for a 1960’s coffee pot.

More original and highly collectable furniture, wallpaper, fabrics and accesories, again from the 60's and 70's, can be found in abundance at The Design Lounge in Eindhoven.

Japanese Craft

Muji was my first introduction to Japanese style.  Back in the 1990’s, the stores “No Brand Quality Goods” came as a breath of fresh air to the non-labelled-obsessed amongst us.  It was their stationary and the use of un-bleached neutral colours that I liked so much not to mention the very affordable t-shirts and the simplicity and quality of their home-wares.

Over the past years I’d forgotten about Muji and the Japanese approach to design until recently, when I hit upon another form of Japanese style, Zakka.

Wikipedia says about Zakka “The term refers to everything and anything that improves your home, life and outlook. It is primarily based on household items from the West that are regarded as kitsch in their countries of origin.”

The style may be kitsch, can also be slightly cutesy French, but to me, it’s all the things I remember about Muji, simple, tasteful, stylish and approachable.

If you have some spare creative time and feel inspired to get crafty (oh so fashionable right now) visit Craftlog to get a feel for Zakka and is understated, simplistic style. Many of the contributors listed on this site are from the US, where a wave of knit, appliqué, quilting, rubber-stamping, paper craft and making stuffed toys is reviving craft. It's also worth checking out the list of contributors on the homepage to get further inspiration.

Kitty Craft is another site worth a mention, complete with free down-loadable patterns, written in Japanese but with easy to follow diagrams. 

And finally, if you like the Zakka style, you’ll like Koos, and Tante Tini
Not just a charming website but also a shop in Amsterdam selling covetable and (comfortable) handmade leather shoes.

Knockando Woolmill

Returned to Speyside on Sunday night and made it the the cottage before the snow set in. We chose to pretend that we'd been snowed in yesterday - though this pretence was scuppered when our neighbour Joerg appeared at the back door in the afternoon.

Whilst we're here we'll catch up with Hugh Jones at the Knockando Woolmill.

We met Hugh a couple of years ago and were so inspired by his work that as soon as we'd set up St. Jude’s we knew we'd have to work with him at some point – and together we created some simple checked woollen throws. Woven with 100% wool, the finishing has been kept to a minimum, so the throws have a certain 'sturdiness' that you just don't get on their cheaper, 'fluffier' counterparts.

The Mill is mainland Scotland's last surviving small district spinning and weaving mill – you might even have seen the Mill as it was a finalist in the BBC's Restoration series in 2004.

Since appearing on Restoration, the Knockando Woolmill Trust has been busy preparing plans and funding applications with the aim of preserving and restoring the mill and its heritage.

We’ll keep you posted with developments here.

Pension Briol

Whilst Angie & I share Kate's enthusiasm for a night under canvas, this is based on fond memories rather than active participation. Visiting Kate & Stuart at their idyllic campsite on the North Norfolk coast last year, we were inspired enough to buy a new tent. Though I'm embarrassed to say it's still in its box.

It will come out some time this year, but until then I think we'll still keep an eye out for accommodation with four walls and a roof.

On a recent stumble round the web I came across a link to Pension Briol which has previously been featured in World of Interiors. It's now near the top of our list of must visit destinations.

Situated high in the Dolomites, the building was designed in 1928 by artist Hubert Lanzinger and is a rare example of Bauhaus design in the Alps.

The current owner's great-grandmother, Johanna, had decided that she would like to own a piece of mountain to celebrate the birth of her children - 15 in all. Briol was built with family members each owning a piece of the surrounding land. Johanna also imposed three rules - no fences, no selling to anyone other than family members and that nature must be respected. Briol is still managed on the basis of these rules.

The building was created from stone and wood and the 13 rooms are spartanly furnished - with spruce floors that are still washed with water and Marsiglia soap.

With the final approach to the pension by foot, I can't think of a better place to get away from it all.

Camp Alternatives

Every year I get evangelical about camping. I spend the pre-summer months trying to persuade friends it is relaxing and it is a holiday. Some will appear interested and even look keen and some will just start stroking their poker straight hair with horror at the possibly of being separated from their irons.

For me camping is everything home life isn’t - relaxing, spontaneous and stress free. There is no oven, TV or Internet – beach walks, reading, barbequed fish and people watching are the order of the day. 

If you like the idea of the great outdoors but were put off by warm milk, perpetually damp clothes and deflating air-beds here to temp you are a few sites worth considering.

Vintage Vacations is based on the Isle of White and has five beautifully restored 1950’s and 1960’s Air Streamer Caravans. Even the interiors are adorned with everything from the same era including, thankfully, mod cons for the fearful camper’s comfort.

Canvas Chic, not full of shabby florals as you might first think but hand crafted Yurts situated in a stunning location in the Ardeche region of France. Les Roulottes is for the romantic, two gypsy caravans nestled in a French meadow. Heaven.