London's Top 5 Treasure Hunts

Treasures old, treasures new, treasures worth the pilgrimage to...Inspired by Channel 4’s ‘Four Rooms’* and my Blom & Blom recycled lighting piece for Phoenix Magazine, trawling for treasure has never been more fashionable. Here are 5 fantastic events where you just might get lucky

Formafantasma Craftica Review, Gallery Libby Sellers, 1 - 28 February 2013

For the love of leather, I had to visit Craftica, a curious craft x design project commissioned by none other than Fendi

Christina Reviews- Collect, 11-14th May 2012, Saatchi Gallery

Shigekazu Nagae, Slipcast and glazed porcelain, Yufuku Gallery (Japan)

Since its controversial move to its Chelsea Duke of York Square premises in 2008, it’s fair to say the Saatchi gallery in London is better known for its cutting edge art and photography, rather than showcasing ‘craft’. Don’t let that put you off. Any doubts on whether contemporary craft is serious business (worth over £800 million in the UK alone) were readily eradicated after visiting this year’s Collect.

Supported by the Crafts Council, Collect is the most prestigious international contemporary craft fair in the UK. This year saw 31 gallery exhibitors, from UK, Europe to Asia, including China for the first time. This is where international collectors, major buyers, gallery directors and museum curators hunt down the finest pieces to add to their prized public collections. To indicate how serious it is- there’s even a Collect Art Fund of £70,000 where curators pitch in front of a Dragon’s Den-style committee why they should acquire their chosen item.

This year ceramics and jewellery were impressive, with works that left me speechless (in good and bad ways). In terms of pushing the boundaries of concepts, materials and techniques, the Northern European scene are evidently more fearless than its British counterparts. The contemporary jewellery scene in the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Belgium have been well established here for a number of years now, fronted by galleries like Galerie Marzee. Jewellery is not just concerned with adornment- it can be avant-garde, wearable (or unwearable), sculptural, which seek their own identity beyond the wearer.

One must applaud the anything-goes spirit of shocking items like German jeweller Stefan Heuser’s giant beaded necklace, made from human breast milk (Galerie Rob Koudijs). Animal lovers beware- from Idiots’ dissected taxidermy bird necklace (to Märta Mattsson’s electroformed, crystal studded spiders (both represented by Galerie Marzee), nothing is too bizarre for bling.

The ancient oriental technique of laquerware saw an unexpected return this year; the refreshing interpretations by Chinese (Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong) and Japanese galleries (Yufuku Gallery and Exhibition Space) leading the way. The bar was set exceptionally high- the enamelled metal, ceramic, bronze, glass, woven metal and bamboo artists from Yufuku Gallery showing unparalleled craftsmanship and innovation. What surprised me was how radically modern the works were- nothing of dated impression of Japanese porcelain and Chinese Ming vases I embarrassedly had before. It was like discovering the unseen wonders of a foreign world.

What a pity one has to wait another year to see such amazing objects!

Collect 2012 highlights

Christina Schou Christensen, Galerie Sofie Lachaer & Caroline Van Hoek (Belgium)

Sidsel Hanum, stained Limoges porcelain, Galleri Format (Norway)

Felicity Aylieff, Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon (UK)

Emmeline Hastings, perspex and titanium bangle, Lesley Craze Gallery (UK)

Jamie Bennett, enamelled necklace, Antonella Villanova (Italy)

Michihiro Sato, paper brooch, Lesley Craze Gallery (UK)

Tang Ming Xiu , laquer and 18th century porcelain, Hanart TZ Gallery (HK)

Idiot's taxidermy bird and pearl necklace, Galerie Marzee (The Netherlands)

The Rhizome Chair, Crook and Jones in Collect's Project Space (UK)

 

All photographs taken by Christina Lai with permission from gallery/artist.

East Meets West- Design Now! At Mokspace, 24th April- 3rd May

It’s a tad cheeky, but what better way to mark the resurrection of Christina’s Anatomy than a blog post on my latest exhibition!

East meets West- Design Now! runs from the 24^th April to 3^rd May, at Mokspace Gallery, opposite the British Museum (one of my favourite inspirational hangouts ) The new London gallery is uniquely dedicated to promoting emerging artists from the Asia Pacific- Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong and Macau. This is Mokspace’s first collaboration with ArtsThread, the leading global art and design talent network.

Christina Lai Seeds of Sanity, 2011

My Seeds of Sanity ceramics (see links below) will be featured alongside 19 talented Asia Pacific artists, all recent graduates. Expect a dynamic range of 2D and 3D works, from drawing and painting to ceramics, jewellery, furniture, and installation. The aesthetics and philosophy of nature, in its broadest sense is the coincidental theme that draws the work together in this modest but freshly modern space.  

From abstract animal shapes, sleek, minimalist contours, dreamy animal-human hybrids to peeling, and disintegrating surfaces of nature - this is a visual feast worth brazing the tube strikes for. Without giving too much away, the ones to look out for (and feel jealous for not thinking of it myself) are the bubble gum coloured, encrusted Tropical Sea Adventure rings by Wenhui Li, the seductively shiny snow-cap glazed melting pots by Koji Shiraya and a clever interactive jewellery installation by Yenz Lin- phew!

If you want to see why the Asia Pacific is a growing hotbed for innovative design talent, or simply to experience something new in London’s overcrowded gallery scene, this is for you.

To read an interview on my Seeds of Sanity Collection visit http://blog.artsthread.com/2012/04/qa-christina-lai-mokspac/

Christina Lai ceramics website

Christina Lai ArtsThread portfolio

Mokspace

33 Museum Street

London

WC1A 1LH

Breaking the Mould - An Interview with Carol McNicoll

Carol McNicoll at Ideal Home exhibition, Marsden Woo Gallery. Table by Sam Scott

Carol McNicoll on Subverting Pots

The Power of Blue

No colour evokes more ambiguous response than Blue. From sadness, skies to the hue of your favourite jeans, it has touched the imaginations of countless artists, designers and musicians.  In the world of ceramics, blue has been a prized possession throughout history, from 9th century blue and white china, 16th century Dutch delftware to 17th century French porcelain. Our appetite for all shades of blue has always been insatiable.

Flow Gallery's latest exhibition Blue (15th June-3rd September) showcases the work of ceramicists and textile artists, who interpret and incorporate the colour in unique ways, referencing the past and present. An innovative collective tribute, this is a must see exhibition that will leave you reconsidering the impact and meaning of blue. Here are a few to watch out for-

Amy Jayne Hughes

A recent RCA graduate these her plate series Noveau Bleu references the prestigious Sevres porcelain of the 17th and 18th century. A fresh dialogue between form and decoration is created, through fluid watercolour illustration and their imperfect, crisp edges.

Caroline Slotte

Caroline Slotte reworks existing ceramics into tangible memories of our personal, cultural, historical and ancestral pasts. This tiny fishing boat, isolated and centred in a large plate serves as a poignant and striking reminder.

Fuku Fukumoto

Fuku Fukumato's thrown concentric forms are a spontaneous reaction between herself and the medium during the making process. Pure, lively and expressive in colour, their smooth, glossy surface evokes images of Arctic seas and floating icebergs.

Henk Wolvers

Henk Wolvers is known for his perfect, paper thin porcelain vessels. precisely incised and marked with blue slip, he pushes the delicate qualities of porcelain to the limit.

Rebecca Wilson

Rebecca Wilson  decorates the humble paper cup with blue Wedgewood patterns, poking fun at our diposable consumer culture. Cup of tea anyone?

Flow 

1-5 Needham Road

Notting Hill

London   

W11 2RP