Letters by Josef Albers

According to the Barbican, this is the biggest Bauhaus exhibition in the UK in over 40 years. I’ve been counting the days until the opening, posting 30 Bauhaus-inspired experiments on Tumblr over the last month.

The Bauhaus modern art and design school was both a place of instruction, operating in Germany from 1919 to 1933, and a school of thought. People refer to Bauhaus today as shorthand for an aesthetic as well as an approach to design. Their curriculum combined crafts and the fine arts, and instructors included design and art legends, including Josef and Anni Albers, Marcel Breuer, Wassily Kandinsky, and Piet Mondrian.

Furniture including pieces from Marcel Breuer and Josef Albers

The exhibit also highlights the work of less well-known students and instructors, like German textile artist Gunta Stölzl. There are some stunning woven pieces on display. I loved this exhibition view of painted works on paper and glass by Josef Albers, with weaving from Anni Albers in the background.

You can see the parallel nature of their work so clearly, but as far as I know, the husband and wife design masters didn’t collaborate on pieces the way Charles & Ray Eames did. (As a creative who aspires to work with her creative husband, I find this model encouraging!)

Slideshow of my exhibition photos:

The exhibition shop has some wonderful housewares from darkroom, small furniture from Rupert Blanchard, and jewellery from Craft Central network members Lua Lua and Oxx Jewellery:

For more Bauhaus:

• exhibition information: Bauhaus: Art as Life at the Barbican Centre
• From the Guardian: exhibition review and Bauhaus article
• LLUSTRE.com’s take on the Bauhaus aesthetic
• Mondrian || Nicholson: in Parallel at The Courtauld Gallery by Somerset House, through 20 May. There’s a Thursday late opening on 10 May; get in free from 6pm if you dress up in ’30s glamour. I probably can’t convince my husband to dress up, but I think I might be able to fashion an outfit!

I’m very pleased to reveal our plans for Clerkenwell Design Week 2012:

Celebrating Clerkenwell as a community of makers, past and present, Creative Clerkenwell launches the Makers in Residence initative at Clerkenwell Design Week 2012, in association with onoffice Magazine

Find an overview of Makers in Residence activities here, as well as a peek at our list of lovely partners. Much more information and booking details to come!

Volunteers needed: Want to help make Creative Clerkenwell: Makers in Residence happen? I’m looking for reliable, enthusiastic design lovers who’d like to pitch in with visual display, social media, workshops, writing, sketching — email me at charlene [at] creativeclerkenwell.com with a bit about you and what you’d like to work on!

Image at top: A scene from Clerkenwell Design Week 2011, when we did upcycling workshops with Vitra. Recognise some faces?

Hormazd works with an unusual and strangely precious material: bespoke Savile Row tailoring patterns, particularly the bespoke patterns belonging to deceased customers. His 2008 limited edition artist book Dead Man’s Patterns was acquired by the Rare British Modern Collection at the British Library. Hormazd’s first solo exhibition A Study on Anansi was at Paul Smith’s Mayfair gallery.

Working with a generous supply of vintage tailoring and sewing patterns, workshop participants were encouraged to make our own collages.

You can see more work on Hormazd Narielwalla’s website.

The workshop was organized by Jotta, the cross-disciplinary platform for emerging artists and designers. Jotta Live, a pop-up gallery and workshop space by Soho’s Carnaby Street, celebrated Jotta’s third birthday and the launch of its first publication.

Jotta was founded by a core group of 5 creatives in partnership with Central Saint Martins and University of the Arts London (UAL) in 2009. Jottas’s aim is to create opportunities for emerging artists and designers to apply their skills and extend their practice, providing new models for dialogue and collaboration between artists & designers, organisations and industry.

Jotta works with artists and designers from all disciplines to create installations, exhibitions, workshops, publications, films and more.

At Milan Design Week, Jotta built an awesome interactive installation with Magnum and Bompas & Parr. The team is also working on the next issue of their publication which launched in March, plus ongoing workshops such as the forthcoming Intro to Framing on 9 May.

I love the way Jotta champions artists and designers, and particularly like that it doesn’t rely on arts funding.

Millie of Jotta explains, “Though they’re our partners, we are not funded by UAL, so we rely on commissioned exhibition curation and sales, and commercial projects and partnerships with brands such as Intel, Magnum, Absolut, Becks and Swarovski to name a few, all brands who want to support and align themselves with emerging artists and designers.”

Next up for Jotta includes curating a selection of work for The Other Art Fair in mid-May, including a new series by Hormazd Narielwalla.

Creative Clerkenwell will also be partnering with Jotta for our Makers in Residence programme at Clerkenwell Design Week — check back here for more details!

First, a bit about them: LLUSTRE.com is a recently launched e-commerce website, offering beautifully designed home furnishings and accessories to its members in online pop-up shops. Regular flash sales, called events, offer products from designers both emerging and established, either at special prices or in limited-editions.

From what I’ve seen, small designers and designer-makers need more venues and markets for their products. I believe LLUSTRE’s business model and approach address some of the major challenges independent designers face.

Here are the top ten reasons I’m excited about LLUSTRE:

1. A passion for and knowledge of good design
LLUSTRE’s buyers have worked for Liberty, the Southbank Centre and design emporium Few and Far. Team members come from varied design and architecture backgrounds. Guest curators for weekly shops will include the folks from TENT London, Marcus Fairs of Dezeen, and Priscilla Carluccio. Featured products include classics from Anglepoise and Falcon Enamelware, as well as new classics-to-be, like the Plumen light.

For those who remember the much-loved, much-missed American interiors magazine Domino — this would be like an online design shop as curated by Domino.

2. They mean business
This isn’t a weekend pop-up started up by friends with more enthusiasm than experience or business savvy. Co-founders Tracy Dorée and Vivienne Bearman have backgrounds in venture capital/investment banking and game production, respectively. LLUSTRE.com has raised £750,000 from angel investors and venture capitalists. Even TechCrunch paid a visit to their office.

Said office by Farringdon is kitted out with proper desks, ergonomic chairs, and a team of 20, half of which appear to be on the tech side. They’re thinking innovatively about how people want to buy things for their homes, and will be leveraging the power of community and social media to spread the word. For instance, every member gets a unique link (this is mine!), and when invited friends sign up through that link, both parties can earn credit toward purchases.

3. Beautiful presentation
The LLUSTRE website is beautiful, and they’ve given serious thought and investment to the design of the site, their logo and the way products are presented.

They have a photographer onsite (well, in the studio next door) for product shoots, and they’re happy to give designers the images to use on their own sites. And we all know how important beautiful presentation and good images are!

4. They’re making good design, at a range of price points, accessible
LLUSTRE.com shows the work of emerging designers alongside design classics and big names like Normann Copenhagen. When you think about it, that mix of designer brands and small labels is a natural way to approach furnishing a home.

More importantly, by bringing to market quality products from both big names and small designers, LLUSTRE.com is making good design accessible, in terms of price points and availability. As a designer, if customers can’t afford your products, that’s one issue. If they can’t even find you, that’s an even bigger issue.

The accessibility of good design is a timely topic, because Elle Decoration UK, as part of their Fight the Fakes campaign, has started championing the work of small designers as a way to afford well-designed products, and as an alternative to buying designer knockoffs.

5. No fees for designers
There’s no charge to become a Design Partner, as the designers who offer products on LLUSTRE.com are called. This is in contrast to business models based on getting upfront fees from independent designers: For instance, online sites and shops that ask a steep upfront or monthly fee in addition to a percentage of sales. Or, trade shows and selling exhibitions that cost £500 to £1,000+ for participation.

6. A reasonable markup
Once LLUSTRE and a designer decide to work together, the buyers will work out a purchase price for the products. That price tends to be at about wholesale, with the price for LLUSTRE’s members varying depending on whether the product is an exclusive or widely available elsewhere, in which case it will be offered at a special discounted price. This is in comparison to galleries and retailers that have a markup of 2.5 or even 3. When the retail price is set at 2.5 to 3 times the wholesale price, many small designers can’t afford to sell wholesale.

7. They handle shipping, returns and order fulfillment
In most cases, LLUSTRE will handle the shipping of product and returns — taking on a lot of the headache of order fulfillment. After the 7-day flash sale event ends, the buyers will write a purchase order for the items sold. The designer then ships the items to the LLUSTRE warehouse in the West Midlands. A drop ship arrangement may be used for big items like furniture.

8. They want to champion small designers and designer-makers
LLUSTRE actively wants to work with independent designers and designer-makers, especially new and undiscovered talent. On a practical level, that means they’re happy to work with small runs of product, limited-editions and one-off pieces. They’re also interested in developing talent and encouraging creativity. In their words: “Unlike other online pop-up shops, LLUSTRE.com is working with designers to commission new work, produce exclusive products, launch new ranges and initiate collaborations.”

9. They’re telling the stories behind the products
Designers get additional exposure through quality blog posts and interviews on the LLUSTRE Journal, which recognises the importance of the stories and makers behind the designs. You can read more about LLUSTRE’s approach to working with design partners and developing limited-editions on the Journal.

10. They’re nice people
This one counts for a lot in my book. LLUSTRE developed out of the founders’ own frustrations in finding the right pieces for their homes, so it’s personal. The co-founders, Viv and Tracy, are friends from Oxford University, and communications manager Meg is a longtime friend of Tracy’s. I’ve met them, I’ve been to their offices, and I’ve concluded: they’re good people. I would be happy to sit down and have a cup of tea with them.

ceramic tableware by Make International

Bonus reason: They’re based in Clerkenwell
Naturally, I’m a bit biased about LLUSTRE’s choice of neighbourhoods! But it does speak to their commitment to London. Many of the design companies they’re featuring are in London or UK-based, from British icons like Anglepoise and printmaker Christopher Brown to young upstarts like Plumen and Joe Joiner to designer-makers from Cockpit Arts and Craft Central.

So those are the top reasons I’m excited to be working with LLUSTRE.com! I’m impressed by their dedication to good design and working with independent designers. I’m also interested in seeing what they do next and how customers respond. My belief is their success will depend on their ability to delight the customer: to consistently offer good, innovative design products; to be a trusted guide for quality design; and to deliver excellent customer service.

Do check out the LLUSTRE.com site, and let me know what you think! Their sale events are only open to members, so you have to register to get the full experience. You can also get a good idea of their aesthetic and approach just browsing around the site and their blog/Journal.

If you want to be a LLUSTRE.com design partner, contact them through their website or at designpartners@llustre.com — and tell them you saw LLUSTRE mentioned by Charlene at Creative Clerkenwell.

And feel free to share your thoughts, questions and suggestions in the comments below, or contact me by email at charlene [at] creativeclerkenwell.com

Photos courtesy LLUSTRE. Wooden birds are by Architect Made.

Missing the excitement and chaos of last week’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, aka Milan design week? Missed out on it entirely, like me, other than a bit of Twitter stream envy? Fear not, we are in good company. We don’t get to hang out at fabulous parties with gorgeous Italian furniture and people, but we do get this adorable Salone-seeking puppy. Drawn by my other half, who’s brilliant.

Illustration by Luke Fenech via Clerkenwell Design Week

It’s especially exciting for us here at Creative Clerkenwell — not just because it will be our one-year anniversary — but also because the Thursday overlaps with the kickoff for Made in Clerkenwell open studios at Craft Central, our partner in championing designer-makers. More on our Makers in Residence project soon!

Last year over 24,000 people registered for Clerkenwell Design Week, and the streets of Clerkenwell, admittedly not typically the most active, were teeming with creative industry people and design fans. Organised by Media Ten, publishers of Icon magazine and The Clerkenwell Post, Clerkenwell Design Week is an opportunity for Londoners to see products that debuted in Milan.



Beyond that, it’s also become a great opportunity for smaller UK designers to be seen, with three exhibition venues this year: the Farmiloe Building on St John Street, the House of Detention above Clerkenwell Green, and the Order of St John’s Priory Hall and Crypt. Though a lot of the action centres on the big contract furniture showrooms, there are efforts to be more inclusive — and I’m all for getting the little guys and local businesses involved. So … how do you get involved?

With print deadlines looming, here’s a look at how to join in the fun at Clerkenwell Design Week.

Showrooms in Clerkenwell – The many contract furniture and material showrooms around Clerkenwell are host to workshops, presentations, product launches and debates during the festival. There are often parties, though they tend to be invite-only. There’s a fee of £5,000 (+VAT, I believe. Gulp!) to be an official participant, including a listing on the website and the printed map.

Smaller designers and manufacturers from outside Clerkenwell – The exhibition spaces in the Farmiloe Building, the House of Detention and the new site at the Order of St John Priory Hall/Crypt go for about £100 +VAT per square meter. The latest CDW newsletter mentioned spaces were going fast. Contact louisa@clerkenwelldesignweek.com with inquiries.

Architecture and Design Studios – The Fringe is a bit different this year. There’s no charge for participating, but it’s being organised as a network of open studios by Caro Communications. From the CDW website: “Offer the public a through-the-keyhole experience into your working lives by participating in Clerkenwell Design Week 2012′s Open Studio programme exploring the creative heritage of Clerkenwell.” To inquire or apply, contact Hannah Watkins at Caro Communications: 020 7713 9388 or hannah@carocommunications.com

Restaurants and Cafes – If you’re interested in being listed in the Food and Drink section of the Clerkenwell Design Week website, contact marketing manager Elspeth Rae at elspeth@clerkenwelldesignweek.com / 020 3225 5367 for more information. There’s no fee to be listed, but establishments are encouraged to have a special offer for registered Clerkenwell Design Week attendees. They’ll be sporting the festival’s pink wristbands.

Shops, galleries, other services – There doesn’t seem to be a clear way to be an official part of Clerkenwell Design Week, from what I can tell from the website. If you’re hosting a special event or installation for the festival, it increases chances of being accepted as an official participant.

If your shop or location is on one of the main thoroughfares, you can benefit from increased foot traffic. I also don’t see why a shop couldn’t offer a special discount for wristband holders — it just adds more value to being a registered festival attendee!

And if you’re interested in hosting an installation of work by a designer-maker or a demonstration/workshop as part of Creative Clerkenwell’s Makers in Residence project, get in touch with me at charlene [at] creativeclerkenwell.com and I’ll see if I can connect you.

Individual designers, designer-makers, other creatives – Time to get creative! If you’ve missed the deadline or don’t have the funds to book an exhibition space, I’d suggest contacting possible venues directly about the possibility of collaborating.

Update: There’s no craft market on St John’s Square planned for this year. There will be a retail section in the Farmiloe Building, with pop-ups from Etsy, LLUSTRE.com, and likely a couple of museum shops.

If you’re interested in having an installation or doing a demonstration/workshop in a local business or studio as part of Creative Clerkenwell’s Makers in Residence project, get in touch, and I’ll see if I can make some suggestions.

Design enthusiasts – Register to attend Clerkenwell Design Week online. Their website should be updated with a schedule of events soon. Creative Clerkenwell will also be posting our picks of what’s on, so sign up for our mailing list, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter @CClerkenwell

And if you want to get involved with our Clerkenwell: Makers in Residence project, contact me directly with a brief description of your skills and interests at charlene [at] creativeclerkenwell.com

Are you excited? I’m excited! Looking forward to hearing from you! – Charlene

The RCA graduate works magic on the loom, using hand-dyed yarn to achieve colourful, multi-layered effects. In this touring exhibition, initiated by the Ruthin Craft Centre in Wales, Ptolemy Mann’s designs are shown in multiple forms: handwoven art pieces, functional woven upholstery fabric and digital prints.

Especially interesting to me were the samples from her new IKAT collection, from the hand-dyed and handwoven swatch to the piece of digitally printed linen to what looked like a flatter, digitally printed cotton.

I was geeking out a bit, explaining different kinds of weaving techniques to my husband, feeling happy to remember something from my textile degree. Do take a peek behind the woven fabric if you can — it’s gorgeous. This is a peek behind the rich jaquard weaving:

The Fuchilla Ikat Chair, a collaboration with Marina Dragomirova, has a powder-coated metal frame supporting a tapestry woven linen seat.

Sorry this photo’s so blurry, but this Ikat Chair was great, incorporating what looked like a basic pulley system to lift the harnesses, allowing for more complex weaving patterns.

I love how Ptolemy Mann’s work pushes the boundaries of weaving, embracing technology and collaboration, while showing deep respect and mastery of the craft.

A visit to The Aram Store, with its multiple levels of design classics and contemporary modern furniture, is a treat at any time. But do make the trip out to Covent Garden by this Saturday if you can — the Ptolemy Mann show in top-floor Aram Gallery is a gem.

The Aram Gallery
110 Drury Lane (near Aldwych)
Covent Garden
London WC2B 5SG
Mon – Sat 10 – 6 (Thurs until 7)

www.thearamgallery.org

Apparently Kurt Geiger consolidated their various offices into 4800 square feet of leased space in that big red, modern-looking building behind St John’s Gardens, which you can see on the walk down Benjamin Street from St John’s Lane to Farringdon Station. I’d always wondered what that looming, somewhat empty-looking building was — the entrance is actually at 24 Britton Street, with a gorgeous, modern courtyard.

My impression of Clerkenwell just got a lot more fashionable! Not that I’m not that familiar with the fashion world. I didn’t know Kurt Geiger was a UK brand — and honestly, I sometimes get the name mixed up in my head with HR Giger, which is so very different. Though this one does remind me of the facehugger from the Alien movies:

And this one looks like it could seriously hurt you and might have acid for blood. I think a tiny set of jaws might extend from the peep toe when it’s ready to strike.

Oh, the Gaga-fication of shoes. It’s a pet peeve of mine. Can you imagine a collaboration though? HR Giger for Kurt Geiger? Amazing.

Tucked away at the end of an alley just off Kingsland Road, the deliciously named Chocolate Factory is home to studios for artists and makers of different kinds, all centred around a lovely garden courtyard.

This is Jo in her studio, which she shares with two other ceramicists. That giant vat-like contraption in the back is the kiln, the oven where ceramic pieces are fired to be finished. Most pieces have to be fired multiple times: after drying and after glazing, for instance.

This is the pottery wheel. Most everything Jo makes starts on the pottery wheel. The clay is placed on that round bit, which rotates, and with her hands, Jo shapes the pieces. It looks like a lot of fun, but having tried it — and made many a collapsed bowl — I can attest that it takes a long time to learn the right feel for the wheel! Jo is a RCA graduate and has been doing this professionally since graduating, so she’s a pro.

Check out those cobblestoned floors!

Best-selling Flare Vases:

Jo gave me a peek at some new pieces, including this series with a wheel-thrown base and hand-applied squiggly decorations. This is a signature of Jo’s pieces: the solid, controlled base paired with wiggling and exuberant elements.

Huddled under plastic sheets were some other recent pieces in the drying stage. The Speak vases have one, two and three “mouths” and the See vases have curious, seeking appendages. These new pieces are a bit humourous, with their multiple protrusions and lifelike gestural qualities. Very characteristic of Jo’s work. As she contends, ceramics don’t have to be so deadly serious!

This is the Zsa Zsa vase, one of Jo’s signature pieces and popular with collectors. Jo’s always experimenting with new ways to display flowers, and Zsa Zsa is designed to hold a bouquet’s worth or just display a single stem. Each piece takes almost 2 months to finish, including drying time!

Another favourite of mine are the Finch bowls. They’re designed to hold salt and pepper at the dining table, though I think they’d be great for holding earrings and other little things, too.

The base is made by hand using the pinching technique, and the rim is thrown on the wheel. They’re named after the finches on the Galapagos Islands, because they’re of the same kind but all different. And they’re adorably small. And …

The Finch bowls and Zsa Zsa vase will be available at a special price on LLUSTRE.com next week! Jo Davies is the first of the designer-makers in the Creative Clerkenwell Presents series, in which I’ll be introducing LLUSTRE.com members to some of my favourite designers and products.

LLUSTRE.com is a new online shopping site offering beautiful interior products in weekly flash sales to a private membership base. I’ll follow up in another post about why I’m excited about LLUSTRE as a platform for small designers and why I’m looking forward to working with them.


To see more of Jo’s work:

• Visit her website at www.jo-davies.com
• Stay tuned for news about Creative Clerkenwell’s plans for Clerkenwell Design Week, 22-24 May 2012. In partnership with Craft Central, we’ll be featuring designer-makers like Jo Davies, and celebrating Clerkenwell as a community of makers, past and present. Very excited!
• Put Made in Clerkenwell open studios at Craft Central in your diary, 24-27 May 2012. Jo and a handful of other specially selected designers will be in the showcase shop.