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Pattern Artists - Sonia Delaunay

30/4/2020

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I am a total pattern addict, and often I'll bring into my teaching practise talks on how patterns in textiles used to read like words. They would express life stories handed down from ancestors, preserving cultural traditions. My Master's thesis was called 'Fabric language, the text in the textile' - but will spare you this theory for now!
 
Recently I have been thinking about the work of a textile designer, how nowadays it's mostly anonymous. Textile designers use the same principles as a fine artist, understanding colour theory, composition, proportion, scale. But rather than these designs getting pinned to a wall for scrutiny, a textile pattern is designed to duplicate itself endlessly, so the basic image gets lost in a sea of repeats.
 
These patterns take on a form of vocabulary, an expression of personality and taste. So with this thought in mind, I want to start to write a series of blogs based on some of my favourite textile design hero's.
 
I am kicking off with Sonia Delaunay. She has had and continues to have, a significant influence on my textile practice. Here is a bit of a summary of her life and work and why I find her so inspiring. Although her artistic career spanned well into the 1970s, I am going to focus on her early career.
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Sonia Delaunay

She was born Sonia Illinitchna Stern to a Ukrainian Jewish family. 
At the age of seven, she went to live with her wealthy Maternal Uncle and his wife, in St Petersburg, Russia, who offered her a more privileged and cultured upbringing. (she was eventually officially adopted by them, at the age of 15)
Nevertheless, her childhood memories of Ukraine remained with her, and she often referred back to the 'pure' colour and bright costumes of the Ukrainian peasant weddings. 
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Sonia Delaunay, Yellow Nude, 1908
Sonia Delaunay started her artistic career as a painter (studying painting in Germany in 1904, and Paris in 1906). She met her husband, the Painter, Robert Delaunay in 1907, (married him in 1910). Together they became engaged with the French and Russian Avant-Garde, and they would open their home on Sunday afternoons to poets, writers, musicians and other intellectuals. (Guillaume Apollinaire, Tristan Tzara to name a couple).
Robert and Sonia's creative work was deeply aligned, as they investigated the art of pure colour, and how its intensity is modulated by light, rhythm and movement. 
They had their own chromatic vocabulary. "As they wake up, the Delaunays speak painting"(1) (A quote from Guillaume Apollinaire, after staying with the couple in 1912)
The Delaunay's claimed their art movement, called 'Simultanism', that took its roots from the work of French scientist Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889). Chevreul identified the phenomenon of 'simultaneous contrast', (He wrote 'On the law of simultaneous contrast of colours', 1839) which was a scientific treatise on how our eyes respond to colour and how colours are affected by the colours around them.
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Michel-Eugene Chevreul - Colour wheel
Sonia's and Roberts Art was part of the first wave of abstraction, in the early 1900s, they started moving away from pictorial form. Instead, it became about creating rhythm, motion and depth through overlapping areas of saturated hues. The concept of Simultanism is that it brings contrasting colours together that enhance one another, giving them higher intensity and vibrance. 
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Robert Delaunay Windows Open Simultaneously (First Part, Third Motif) 1912
Sonia also explored this relationship of colours through time-based mediums like poetry, dance, music and cinema. She would wear her Simultaneous patchwork outfits to high society openings and events, fashioning herself like a living sculpture.
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"About 1911, I had the idea of making for my son, who had just been born, a blanket composed of bits of fabric like those I had seen in the houses of Russian peasants. When it was finished, the arrangement of the pieces of material seemed to me to evoke cubist conceptions, and we then tried to apply the same process to other objects and paintings." Sonia Delaunay (2) 
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Cradle cover 1911
For Sonia, working in textiles could be seen as a way of defining her artistic difference from her husband, Robert, and it also linked her to her Russian roots, especially that of folk art. 
Sonia created a simultaneous environment through her patchwork art. In the couple's apartment, colours would dance together in the form of cushions, book covers and lampshades, creating a kind of homely theatre of aesthetic experimentation. ​
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Paper collage book binding, Sonia Delaunay, 1913
Sonia pursued her artistic mission without distinguishing between fine and applied arts; she possessed flexibility in her work, that allowed her to switch from one technique to another, achieving a sense of vitality, freshness and experimenting with the language of colour, in every creation.
The Russian revolution, in 1917, marked a significant turning point in Sonia's artistic career. She no longer got the financial support from her wealthy family. And began her business 'Casa Sonia' a boutique selling fashion and decorative household items and managed to earn enough money for the family to live.
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Textile Designer
 In 1923 a firm in Lyons ordered some fabric designs from Sonia. "I have done fifty designs", she said, 'relationships of colour using pure geometrical forms with rhythm. As far as I'm concerned, they were and remain colour scales - really a purified version of our concept of painting. It has involved a great deal of research and study. The rhythm is based on numbers, for colour can be measured by the number of vibrations". This is a completely new concept, one which opens infinite horizons...' (3)
 
Sonia's designs were applied to women's dresses, automobiles and posters, and her research and discoveries has had a significant impact on contemporary painting.

in 1925 Sonia opened her fashion house, 'Sonia Delaunay' and registered 'Simultane' as a brand name in France, setting up a boutique in Paris.
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Metz and Co Collaboration.
Metz and Co were a small luxury department store for textiles, interior design, applied arts and fashion in Amsterdam. During the early '20s the astute owner, Joseph de Leeuw, (who had also acquired Liberties in London), commissioned fabrics and furniture designs from international artists and architects for his own, exclusive production. (These included, Marcel Bruer, Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, Paule Marrot, Josef Hoffmann) Alongside Gerrit Rietveld and the painter Bart van der Leck, Sonia's contribution marked the Metz style. Sonia's mix of great designs, strong personality and friendship accompanied Metz and Co for years.
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For me, Sonia's accomplishment is that her textile designs created from 1922 - 1930 will never go out of style.  So how do they have such permanence and durability? I believe we value the innate sense of rhythm and free spirit in her designs, and depth of research into colour relationships. There is also so much integrity in the value and simplicity in geometric forms.

I like the idea that Sonia Delaunay fused her art with the ongoing stream of everyday life in her textile designs, and this was somehow her legacy.
Sonia’s textile designs had an element different from those of past decorative designers. Her prints had a painterly quality to them. Sonia thought like a painter; therefore, she designed her fabrics using form and balance and colour.

Everything is feeling; everything is real. Colour brings me joy'. (Sonia Delaunay)
 
Credits: Tate Publishing, Sonia Delaunay.
(1.) Guillaume Apollinaire, quoted in Nous irons jusqu'au soleil, pg 34.
(2.) A quote extracted from the Tate Moderns website, Exhibitions and Events, 'who is Sonia Delaunay' (tate.org.uk)
(3) Extracted from the book, 'Sonia Delaunay, fashion and fabrics', by Jacques Damase, pg 57.
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Deux fillettes finlandaises (two young finnish girls) 1907, Sonia Delaunay
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Models wearing beachwear designed by Sonia Delaunay, 1928. Private collection. © L & M SERVICES B.V. The Hague 20100623. Photo: © private collection.
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Sustainable practises

27/11/2019

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Sustainability.
Such a big word and such a big subject.  And I don't think I can tackle it, in just the one blog.

But, for now, I wanted to share another experience in London, the trade show I went to called 'Future fabrics Expo' from the organisation 'The sustainable angle'.

I came across these guys on instagram, when I started following a feed called @make_fashion_circular , an initiative by @ellenmacartherfoundation. 
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To give you an insight into what a #circulareconomy means, I like this quote:
"The logical way to shape our economic system is by replicating what has always worked in Nature. everything gets reintegrated into the system and waste doesn't exist. That is the basis of our future circular economy"  Agustin Cadiz.
a Cadiz runs a company in Chile, called Rentivo, which is a growing niche to lease products instead of selling them. His focus is on baby gear.

When I started Smitten, I had recently left a full time job working for one of the large (Australasion) textile houses based in Auckland. I was a little bit horrified at the accumulation of end of life textiles that took up such a large amount of warehouse space and eventually, once the warehouse sales and emporiums had taken the best of the worst, it all ended up in landfill. (and this was more than a few rolls, more like a container ship load). And this is the same across 1000's of textile houses.

So, before I share some of the interesting start-ups and textile business out there, thinking differently with the planet in mind. Here is a bit of a summary of my research over the years, which is at the heart of why I do what I do.
I was also quite affected by the documentary 'The true cost' , if you haven't see this, then you should.

Textiles are the 2nd biggest pollutant in the world, with one garbage truck of textiles being landfilled or incinerated every second. 

Here's a breakdown of some of the issues in textile production:

Water:
Typically, to produce 1 kg of fabric, 200 litres of water is consumed. This is because a lot of water is used throughout the fabric production process including; washing the fibre, bleaching, dyeing and then cleaning the finished product.
All this is separate from the fact that plants like cotton, consume at least 19,000 litres of water to produce just one t-shirt. (!)
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Air pollution
Gaseous emissions in the textile industry have been sighted as the second largest pollution problem in the industry after water pollution, especially since most processes in textile production produce atmospheric emissions.

Solid waste and water pollution
The textile industry also produces lots of solid waste which ends up in landfills and water bodies, which can cause environmental issues. Globally, each year, about 90 million items of clothing end up in landfills.

This is only scratching the surface. You can read more here if you're keen, here are some links:

  • http://reve-en-vert.com/fashion-industry-one-biggest-water-polluters-world/
  • https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-fashion-industry-tries-to-take-responsibility-for-its-pollution/2016/06/30/11706fa6-3e15-11e6-80bc-d06711fd2125_story.html
  • http://www.lenzing.com/en/investors/equity-story/global-fibre-market.html
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_the_coal_industry
  • http://www.ecowatch.com/fast-fashion-is-the-second-dirtiest-industryin-the-world-next-to-big–1882083445.html

OK, so there is much good happening as a reaction to this, and I have picked out a few things to to talk about inspired by the Future Fabrics Expo. 

​Also - I have written a bit about why I love line here
THE FUTURE FABRICS EXPO 8, 24th - 25th January 2019

The future fabrics Expo is in its 9th year this year, and I was lucky enough to catch it last year. It was held in Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London. And as you would expect was a very a very busy and bustling event. 

The focus of this expo is to showcase and communicate the positive benefits of a diverse range of responsibly and sustainably produced low impact textiles and materials.

I was on the hunt for some new base cloths to print on, that would tick the boxes of sustainability at a good price point.  There was a lot to take in, and I left in a bit of an overwhelm, clutching business cards and a few hundred phone shots, in the hope to follow this up with manufacturers when back in N.Z. (still on top of the to do list!)

It wasn't like a normal trade show though, with manufacturers pushing product and buyers competing for space. It was more of a platform to educate and inform visitors from a diverse range backgrounds, promoting and connecting materials and suppliers with visionary designers and brands.
"Sustainability is not a 'trend' or an option, it is now a critical imperative"
The sustainable angle
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Photo credit: www.sustainableangle.org
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Alongside the racks and racks of beautiful textile samples, the expo had several display tables, with back-lit perspex tops,  upon which were intriguing specimens and petri dishes on display.
This area showcased research into smart textile practises. The companies that are committed to making a lower environmental impact and are seeking alternatives to the fashion industries reliance on cotton and polyester.
​These included Biotec textiles, textiles made from food waste, and businesses and start-ups that are invested in natural processes and a circular economy.

I have pulled out some of my favourite examples to share here and links to their website.  
Coccon Crafts loom
This is a business that gives back to the local hard working farmers in east India, re-investing and empowering that community rather than just taking from it, as is so often the case in the textile industry. Their focus is on silk production that doesn't kill the pupae, no pesticides and no chemicals are used in the process.
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Cacoon Crafts Loom - Peace silk
Tencel Refibra
This is a great example of a company contributing to the Circular economy, using pre-consumer textile waste (the offcuts). combined with Wood pulp to create fabric that is biodegradable. they are working towards expanding this circular economy to include using post consumer textile waste in the production on their fabric. 
TENCEL™
Amadeu rubber
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AMADEU supports small producers and artisans from Amazon rainforest, whose economic activities are integrated with the use of sustainable natural resources. 
The coloured rubber represents a process of social innovation, which resulted from years of research, and has been responsible for generating social transformation and environmental preservation.
The focus of her work relies on supporting local communities, specially women, through collaboration on handcrafts and on the production of sustainable materials.
And check out the organic jewellery and accessories here:
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Companies using By Products
  • Green whisper - create sustainable products with zero impact on the environment. They utilize the residue of agriculture and create products of daily use.
  • Malai – a newly developed biocomposite material made from entirely organic and sustainable bacterial cellulose, grown on agricultural waste sourced from the coconut industry in Southern India. 
    Malai is a flexible, durable biocomposite material with a feel comparable to leather or paper. It is water resistant and because it contains absolutely no artificial ‘nasties’ it will not cause any allergies, intolerances or illness. It is a completely vegan product
Companies using Natural Dyes
  • Living Colour - is a biodesign research project exploring the possibilities of natural textile dyeing with bacteria that produce pigment.
  • Botanical Inks provides contemporary traditional artisan natural dyeing services from our Bristol based studio.​
Companies using Bioculture
  • Mycelium, the spores of mushrooms, are used it to make anything from chairs to lamp shades to packaging material. Dutch textile designer Aniela Hoitink decided to create a flexible version of the material: MycoTEX. ​
Companies using Circular systems
  • Circular systems
  • Bristol cloth​
Lastly, just exactly what do you need to have a GOTS certification?
GOTS. (Global organic textile standard) - Covers organic fibres throughout the supply chain. this means, from on farm production, to all the processing steps, to labelling to the final textile product. This includes setting social conditions, worker safety and sets chemical residue limits. This logo can only be used if the entire textile value chain is covered by the certification system.

In other words, a pretty high bar to reach, one to certainly look out for.

To find out more about Environmental Criteria Symbols, you can Click here 
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And finally - I thought I'd finish on this rather beautiful piece of Textile Art, that is currently on display at the Te Tuhi Art gallery, in Pakuranga
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On Te Tuhi’s Project Wall, Karen Rubado has created this new work called under intense scrutiny.
It is made in reflection of the broken system of soft plastic recycling in New Zealand. 
Single-use packaging solutions, are part of our daily lives, originally introduced as a way of increasing consumption. Now, with so many industries slow to change their reliance on plastic packaging, the responsibility to reverse this culture of hyper-disposability has fallen to the consumer and the government. 
To create under intense scrutiny, Rubado collected soft plastics used over a month by six families. The material was then hand-shredded and assembled through hand-weaving techniques to form a long plastic textile.
In re-presenting these ‘disposable’ plastics, Rubadoinvites scrutiny of manufacturers and their processes and highlights the importance of consumers connecting with and understanding the materials they purchase.
On that note - Imagine if we lived in a world where our desire for instant gratification, vacum packed perfection and retail therapy, no longer existed? 
​
Katie x
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The Clothworkers Centre

27/6/2019

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A brief snapshot of my visit to the Clothworkers centre, while I was in London, Feb 2019
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​While I was a textile student in London, many years ago, the Victoria and Albert Museum was by far the best place to visit, study and draw inspiration from their huge collection of textiles. Back then, they had row upon row of custom made cabinetry that you could slide out to see the various fabrics that had been collected over 100's of years from around the globe.
I was very glad to be reunited with those cabinets, but they are no longer housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, instead you can find them at the Clothworkers Centre in Hammersmith, London. (The image below shows one of these cabinets)

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In 2013, the V&A museum shifted, not just these cabinets, but its entire collection of 95,000 textile objects to a dedicated space at Blythe House, Hammersmith, London, named the Clothworkers Centre.

This facility offers visitors and researchers a unique opportunity to inspect and study its collections of textiles and fashion, ranging from archaeological fragments to heavy tapestry and carpets, accessories and underwear to embroidered 18th century court dresses and contemporary haute couture.
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​The Clothworkers' Centre at Blythe House, Olympia. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
I felt so lucky to be able to book a tour during my short stint in London, in January this year. 
Also, on a seperate visit to the Clothworkers centre, I was able to get up close and have some one-on-one time with some early textile pieces from the Asian collections which I'll also share.

I learnt that the very dedicated team of curators and assistants are currently working hard at digitally archiving every piece so the entire V&A textile collection will be available online. (so yes, just 95,000 objects, no small feat)
And this is to be done, before the collection is on the move again, as part of the big V&A East project, which will be home to be a brand-new museum at Stratford Waterfront, in London, opening in 2023.  Booking my flights now!
THE CLOTHWORKERS TOUR:
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At the beginning of the tour, you are greeted by a number of mannequins cloaked in white protective capes. These rows of mysterious figures, represent some of the loans that have been returned from various exhibitions that they have taken part in from around the world.
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And I was very happy when our guide decided to reveal a couple of them to us. I'm sure her choice wasn't random. ;-) 

The first reveal:  A Schiaparelli, evening ensemble, of a lush silk purple velvet and with embroidered sequins.
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When I think of Schiaparelli, I think of her shoe hat and her love for pink. I have always been a little in awe of her, sleek and modern, bordering surrealist art with her fashion in the 1930's. Wonderful to see this evening ensemble of hers.
Schiparelli was quite a character, and it has prompted me to look her up again! In the meantime to find out more about this particular design here is the link - collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88472/evening-ensemble-elsa-schiaparelli/
The next reveal, a Bloomsbury group waistcoat, from the Omega Workshop. This textile design was jacquard woven and block printed. I am very fond of Vanessa Bells textiles, who was part of the Bloomsbury group and so happy to have seen this classic up close. 
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As the tour proceeded, we are guided down a corridor with huge storage systems to the left and right, some are open for us to peek into, only to find each the collection of pieces meticulously under wraps and carefully labelled. 
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So staying close to the tour guide, we excitedly huddle around her, as she pulls open one of the large drawers and lifts away the sheets of tissue. 
Next reveal: A lavish gold and white beaded ivory evening dress worn by Queen Elizabeth II on a state visit to Paris in 1957.
The dress was designed by Sir Norman Hartnell, and is called 'The flowers of the fields of France' and features some rather special Napoleonic bees. Designed to compliment the French nation and draw attention to the Queen.
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V & A collections
And the last, but not least, main highlight of the tour, and after much conversation with my fellow textile enthused tourists, we are shown this incredible gown. A 1740's embroidered Court gown. Unpicked to lay flat in storage. 
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Photo taken from the website - The V&A collection
So that is a little snap shot of the tour, and guess what, this is the best part, myself and the 5 other people who were on the same tour as me decided to take ourselves to the pub for some lunch. As you do.
But what was really fabulous was we were all textile enthusiasts on one level or another, all from far flung parts of the globe. And all made conversation and connections about textiles that had personal meanings to us.  Chats over a pint are the best. Great to make new friends indeed!

The Clothworkers appointment

At the clothworkers centre It is not only possible to book into regular tours, but it is also possible to book one on one time with your choice of archive fabrics. You need to spend some time researching on their website, which is an almighty task, and then once you have decided, you secure an appointment at the Clothworkers centre, settle yourself by one of the large tables, and they bring out your chosen selection. Being an out of towner, I was lucky to get an appointment, as 3 months notice is generally required. However, they were very kind, seeing I was from NZ and only in London for a few weeks, so as long as I chose something from the Asian collection, I could nip in with only 2 weeks notice. 
I have had a long standing fascination with Ikat weave, so started there. Then I wanted to ogle fabric that was rather ancient, so that was my next choice.

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This is called a Patola cloth. It is a double ikat woven sari, made from silk. This one is made in Gurjaret, India and dates back to the early 19th century. It was made for export to Indonesia. They are still made today and are very expensive, once worn only by those belonging to royal and aristocratic families.
Patola-weaving is a closely guarded family tradition and it can take six months to one year to make one sari due to the long process of dying each strand separately before weaving them together. Here is a clip if you want to see the work involved Ikat dyeing and weaving
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Detail of the Patola Sari cloth. The warp and weft threads are individually wrapped before the dyeing to create the pattern
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Gujarat Ceremonial textile, Cotton. Dated 14th - 15th Century
I loved hovering over this textile piece which dated back the late 14th century, also made in Gujarat, India. It is made from cotton and block printed.
This ceremonial cloth had an intriguing design of a woman carrying a parrot with female attendants holding an umbrella. The design is repeated over two registers. Apparently the motifs mimic those seen in an western Indian manuscript painting of the period 1400-1500 and earlier. 
Cloths like this one served as banner hangings and stage-set backdrops for ceremonies, especially harvest festivals and celebrations of rites of passage. 
It was incredible to see the depth of the Indigo dye, still very bright even after 100s of years.
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And that's about it! It was certainly nice to sit with these textiles for an hour and contemplate the craft and skill involved.

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse, of a couple of mornings spent at the Clothworkers Collective in London.

Next blog will be about the 'Sustainable Angle' - a textile trade show I visited while in London. Lots to un pack there! Stay tuned.
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While I was in London.......

14/4/2019

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Anni Albers, Tate Modern, 11th October to 27th January
 
I felt very lucky to have caught the retrospective of Anni Albers work during my trip to London. I have been a big fan of her work for decades. To follow is some of the highlights abstracted from the show and the accompanying texts.
 
The show was a huge celebration of Albers' dedication and pioneering work as an Artist, within the history of abstract modernism, and within a story of textile art.  It also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus.

​For me, this exhibition highlighted Albers' compassion and concerns between commercial design and craftsmanship. It showed me some powerful links between creativity and production, and the exploration of innovative materials and her consistent development of new techniques.

I want to do my best to simply walk you through each room in the show (11 in total). This is by no means an essay on my part, but just an overview,  a bit of background of what I loved and learnt.
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​Hope you enjoy.

Read More
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August 30th, 2018

30/8/2018

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https://www.franklintill.com/journal/colour-may-vary
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​From Pressure to Vibration—The Event of a Thread

3/7/2017

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I was in Wellington during the April school holidays so took a bus up to the Dowse to check out From Pressure to Vibration – The Event of a Thread, curated and featuring work by Emma Fitts. It was a multi-layered celebration of textile themes including history, conceptual art, archival studies, traditional craft and architecture. In other words, a Big Deal. I was so lucky to catch this!
 
The concept is this. Fitts has unearthed a spectacular archive of textile art held by the Dowse, and what an archive it is. She’s organised these works according to some of the guiding principles used at the Bauhaus school of design:  pressure, pricking, rubbing, pain, temperature and vibration.
Then, combining the role of artist and curator, Fitts has woven her own large scale, newly created architectural panels throughout the older works, also based on these principles.
 
She’s given us a heady brew of history, craft and industry. I’ll break it down by the same Bauhaus categories Fitts has used to categorise her archical selections.
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Emma Fitts wall hanging installations, from Pressure to Vibration 2017
1. Pressure: architecture
​Judy Patience’s impressive large-scale weaving was the winning entry in the 1974 design competition for the Dowse’s entrance foyer. Now, personally, I often find the 1970s slightly hard work, with a recurring tendency of too much of everything. But I can see in Patience’s piece the perfect antidote, then as now, to the overwhelming architectural environment of concrete, steel and glass. Its textured lines and angular pattern-pockets reflect and enrich the space it was designed to inhabit. The vibrant pops of colour woven three dimensionally over an olive background sings the very best of the decade which brought me up. I find it an unbridled joy.
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Judy Patience, Wall Hanging, 1974. Wool, Brass
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Judy Patience, Wall Hanging, 1974. Wool, Brass (detail)
2. Pricking: modernism
Loom weaving increased in popularity in Aotearoa in the 1950’s and 60’s where cottage industries where rife and sophisticated domestic products came out of numerous spinners and weaver’s guilds across the country.
 
For Margery Blackman and Judy Patience the German American textile artist Anni Albers, who headed the Bauhaus weaving workshop (taking over Gunta Stolzl in 1931) had a significant influence. Her books, On Designing (1959) and On Weaving (1965), highlighted weaving as a mode of modern design. Albers was the first designer to have a one person exhibition at the Museum of modern art in New York in 1949, making her one of the most important designers of the day. The exhibition travelled to 26 museums in the US and Canada.

​But it is impossible to talk about New Zealand textile art without also talking about the rich craft, skills and culture of raranga: Maori weaving. Margery Blackman has done a vast amount of work analysing and documenting western European and Maori weaving practices. Fitts’s inclusion of Blackman’s imposingly large work From Aramoana (1981) is a fitting tribute to this research.
 
The work itself was created in protest in the 1980s when Muldoon’s government tried (and failed) to build an aluminium smelter at the tiny, coastal Otago village of Aramoana. But “aramoana” has another meaning, more evident here: it’s one of the names given to the taniko panels that adorn the walls of wharenui. Literally, it means pathway to the ocean.

It’s hard to think of many examples which so artfully and subtly blend the multitudinous voices of tikanga Maori with western art practice. 
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Margerey Blackman, From Aramoana 1981 – 1982, wool, cotton, linen, silk mohair
3. Rubbing: fibre art
​Joan Calvert and Zena Abbot’s work from the 1960s and 70s is exemplary of the widespread growth of sculpture across all mediums at that time. Whether it was because representational painting had reached the end of its tether, or whether it was some new-found freedom the art world found in the third dimension, who knows? But the work of both these artists is highly sculptural, and very free.
 
Joan Calvert is quoted as saying “I prefer to work in a spontaneous manner, knowing initially the atmosphere or feeling I wish to create but not altogether how I am going to achieve it”. That intuitive approach is clearly evident in 3D Form.
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Joan Calvert, 3D form, 1975. Wool, fibre, plastic.
Zena Abbot also pushed the boundaries of textile weaving as an art form. Her work Roving plays on little known etymologies of the word itself. Roving can not only mean to wander, it is also a twisted bundle of fibre, and – as a verb – another word for spinning fabric. 
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Zena Abbot was an influential weaver in New Zealand, inspiring many through her workshops and weaving business. 
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Zena Abbott, Roving, 1977. Sisal, rope.
4. Pain: story-telling
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m keen on this idea. My interest in the interplay of text and textile goes back to my childhood diaries and doodles. So it’s pretty damn exciting for me to see this idea reflected on a large scale in an exhibition like this. And yes, I like the matching. Story telling can hurt!
 
This part of the show – for me – lay heavily in the hands of Fitts as curator.
​Four traditional woven pieces: a kete, a platter, a bottle and a cylindrical basket sit elegantly pinned to the stark white gallery wall. Their artistry and meticulous crafting much in evidence. In a few deft curatorial strokes, Fitts brings their significance to life:
 
O te wananga, where three baskets of knowledge are brought to Earth
Te kete tuaui (sacred knowledge)
Te kete tuatea (ancestral knowledge of memory, ritual and prayer)
Te kete aronui (life’s knowledge)
 
In a show overflowing with narratives, it seemed fitting that the section devoted to “story-telling” should trace back to the fundamentals of the sacred, the ancestral and the living.
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Erenora Puketapu-Hetet. Kete Pingau, 1983
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Ruth Castle, Platter, 1995
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Ruth Castle, Cane bottle, Cylindrical basket, 1995
5. Temperature: textile industry
Textile and industry have always had a close relationship. In fact, the industrial scale of textile production is precisely a function of the importance of textiles in human life. It’s all very well to enthuse over beauty, but textiles need industry to do their job. And indeed, it is largely around the use of raw textiles in the industry that has caused this terrible leap into the toxic issues we face today.
 
Fitts has used this paradigm to display the wide range of weaving techniques of Wellingtonian Sheila Reinan, with a large range of samples spanning the years 1980 – 2005. Through her own commentaries, Fitts contextualises Reinan’s artisanal craft with the commercial craft of the Petone Woollen Mill. Closing in 1968 after almost a century, the mill thrived on the skills and knowledge of hundreds of women, a lot of them immigrants who’d learned their skills in the mills of the UK.
 
Reimann started on a small table loom in 1980, ultimately graduating to a 48 inch Sunflower floor loom, specializing in scarves, shawls and throw rugs, working with colour structure and texture and often dyeing her own yarn.
 
The hand loomed pieces on display in this exhibition are exquisite examples of a range of techniques. Reimann’s later works incorporated unwoven areas with woven, and by using differential shrinkage from washing she developed the corrugated and bubble effects that became her signature style.
 
Fitts quotes Reimann:
“It seems to me that the history of the world can be seen through cloth. In today’s ‘throw-away’ society, with so much mass-produced cloth available, I feel that handmade cloth provides a link with that past… and its unique blend of mathematics and art.”
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Selection of weaving samples wit their pattern notes by Sheila Reimann.
6. Vibration: Raranga
From the pressure of architecture to the vibration of Raranga. While it’s impossible to talk about Aotearoan textiles without talking about raranga, it’s equally meaningless to consider raranga – or any textiles – outside of the context of applied arts. Some people get a bit sniffy about crafts. But within tikanga Maori, the traditions of raranga are awe-inspiring in their holistic approach.

​The woven hieke (rain capes) of Whiona Epiha and Philpa Devonshire are high examples of a traditional practice which has been passed down orally by generations of women for many centuries.
 
And since the very word “curate” means “to preserve”, Fitts has done well to let these traditional works speak for themselves.
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Whiona Epiha, Te Ahi Ka, 1994, harakeke, neinei, pingao, jute, 1994
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Philipa Devonshire, Ki a Hinemoana 1994, kiekie, pingao, pukeko feathers, jute, processed fibre, dye.
Waiwhetu weaver Erenora Puketapu-Hetets works are made using taniko a weaving technique. The text that features on the cones reads:
E ara ra, Eoho (to stir and wake up):
Maranga (to get up, new opportunity):
Kokiri (to advance and move forward on a number of fronts);
Iwi, te tai, tu tangata (for people to be upstanding and proud)

Puketapu-Hetets is quoted "I enjoy pushing the boundaries as I am certain many weavers of the past did. I enjoy the freedom to make statements about current issues that affect our Maori people. Weaving is a vehicle to reflect my views, my thinking, my feelings. The weavings reflect our Tupuna, our Iwi, Hapu and Whanau which is an essential part of my being"
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Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, Tuku Mana Whakahaere, 1990, waxed linen thread.

7. Pressure to vibration: Emma Fitts
Fitts’s works were the only ones in the show that were not archival (whether or not they are now, I don’t know). Extraordinarily large, even by textile art standards, giant panels of felted wool, some with overlaid patterns of fabric taken from Bauhaus designer Lilly Reich’s dresses, they hung from the ceiling and curved their way through the galleries, both connecting and dividing the six Bauhaus-inspired zones.

Fitts replicated the layout of the two Bauhaus designers Ludwig Mies van der Rohe  and Lilly Reich’s installation for a fashion industry exhibition in 1927, which doubled as a café called Cafe Samt & Seide.
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Why Bauhaus? The German art school of the 1930s still has much to offer textile design, art and business. The reason why  - again – is precisely because textiles and business are inextricably linked.
 
Fitt’s exhibition provided a welcome moment of brilliant illumination amid an industrialised reality where brands carry more value than quality, and the cheaper the better.

I hope I do this show justice it deserves. I have had to leave a few textile pieces out of this blog, as the need for some brutal editing was required!  This exhibition has certainly pushed a few buttons in me.......so watch this space for the next blog.

Also, thanks to my bestie, JL, for all his help with editing my ramblings.

​
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Slow Textiles

17/4/2017

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Embedded: Corbans Estate Art Centre, April 13th - May 28th
PictureNalani Gloor: Sawdust and Diamonds
Maddie Gifford and I recently co-curated an exhibition called Embedded, which opened last week and runs until the 28th May at Corbans Estate Art Centre.
This blog is a bit of a rundown on what's in it, and why. I wanted to archive the show, and our thinking around it. So I've also borrowed some of Maddie's texts from the gallery notes.

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We invited a diverse selection of contemporary New Zealand artists whose work in textiles is evocative and nostalgic, reflecting traditional notions in textiles and mixing this with more conceptually charged work.

We were drawn to the way textiles can elucidate the past and our relationship to it. Memories are a big part of it. Yet textiles are often taken for granted in our everyday lives. We wanted to highlight that poignancy.


Pip Steel’s meticulously crafted coverlet, Passage of Time, is directly influenced by traditional Japanese textile methods and the cultural concept of mottainai (the idea of something, in this case, material, being too valuable to waste), Steel has recycled old Japanese indigo dyed cotton, hemp and kasuri woven cloth.

A simple running hand-stitch named sashiko, using special cotton threads forms the intricate patterning. The sashiko technique is uniquely understood as not being about the end product, but the stitching process, while thinking of someone, or one’s self. In Steel’s case, Passage of Time became a metaphor for the repair and enhancement of a mother and teenage-son relationship.
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Nalani Gloor's stunning Macrame works are evocative of the artist’s personal memories of re-settling in different countries and cities throughout her life, her macramé practice, a skill lovingly taught by her mother, was Gloor’s way of grounding herself in each new home. Embodying a sense of comfort and nostalgia, the carefully crafted collection symbolises how she has found a sense of belonging through creating, and the importance of textiles and fibre art practice in this process. ​​
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Nalani Gloor: Lanterns, Cosmia 1,2& 3

Gina Ferguson’s knitted pieces are socially charged through her interest in socio-cultural discourse, gender and enriching personal narratives.
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Shift is made from felted sheep's wool and was originally shown at the Headland Sculpture on the Gulf, as a long knitted path. Now folded into its current hay-bail-like form, it still speaks strongly of rural connotations and our heritage around the New Zealand wool industry. 

​Alongside this, Fergusons tiny 
Bootees have been delicately crafted using the unusual and personal material - human hair. ​This brings to light the interiority of memory and the domestic milieu. We’re immediately drawn to the fragility, intimacy, and sentimentality of these objects. ​​​​
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Gina Ferguson: Shift
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Gina Ferguson: Knitted bootees

Annie Mackenzie learnt directly from an older generation of weavers, ensuring the weaving skillset is passed hand to hand, and weaver to weaver. In this way, the memory of a long history of making is embedded in every textile she weaves. 

​Mackenzie’s work demonstrates a thoughtful narrative exploring memories in the cloth pieces through the use of recycled textiles, conversations sparked during the very practice of weaving, and memories of domestic objects taken into new contexts.  

The slate path rag rug, gives a nod to times past when it was common to make do on scarce means. The crazy-paving sketch is made with an old discarded woolen top, knotted through an old coffee sack, flipped unconventionally to reveal it's usually concealed underside. 


Ella is formed using the weaving technique used in netting or sack-making, yet transformed when hung on the gallery wall. Its delicate and fine threads, loosely woven, speak of tradition and skill that are centuries old.
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Annie MacKenzie: Slate Path and Ella
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Annie MacKenzie: Ella (detail)
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Annie MacKenzie: Slate Path (detail)

Audrey Boyles Flower Power takes over 6 metre long wall in the gallery space, creating a series of wild vine like forms. The twisty squiggly wire structures are covered in unique vintage styles of fabric, each chosen to echo memories of the fashion worn by Boyle's maternal lineage and which are also reminiscent of her own childhood, learning the skills from these women to craft and sew.
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This is further imbued from a photograph of Boyle's late-great uncle William standing amongst a bed of vibrant, hand painted flowers; the guns sewn into the snake-like structures are a nod to his passing in the First World War and Boyle’s tragic family history.

Flower Power as its seen here, is an extraction of a much larger volume of 80+ vines that Boyle made for the 2016 Harbour View sculpture trail.
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Audrey Boyle: Flower Power
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Audrey Boyle: Flower Power

Genevieve Packer's blinds, An Alternative View, fit snuggly into the homestead gallery windows making a bold ornate statement about the changing nature of our urban landscape and link us to the past. Bringing the outside in, we are reminded of the rise in high density housing and how we become further removed from our quarter acre section heritage and native fauna and flora. The pattern is created through the removal/absence of material referencing domestic net curtains.  

One long length of laser-cut felt is placed within an entire window frame, while three smaller pieces fill the spaces at the top of the remaining windows of the Corban Homestead, evoking memories of its domestic beginnings before becoming a gallery space.  

​The site-specific installation encompasses the collective memory of a nation by providing a romanticized, New Zealand-centric link to the past.

Packer's textile pieces combine an obsession with surface pattern design and an exploration of the national identity and material culture of New Zealand.

Accompanying the window installation are Packer's Prefab bricks. Stacked neatly in the gallery space, as if laying the foundations to a temporary dwelling, these building blocks make a bold statement about the patterns that surround us in our everyday lives. The bricks have been skillfully stitched from different hand printed fabrics, evoking an array of house related textures and patterns. ​
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Genevieve Packer: An Alternative View
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Genevieve Packer: An Alternative View
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Genevieve Packer: Prefab
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Lastly in Gallery 2, is my own work, an installation called Social Fabric.

This is part of an ongoing project, which first started during my MA in Textiles at Goldsmith's College, at the University of London.

For me, fabric ignites a violent mash-up of warm nostalgia and and brutal commerce. Much of the fabric industry is obscenely wasteful, and the insatiable demand for cheap clothing entrenches clothing workers in low pay and dangerous conditions.
 
But despite this grim provenance, fabric is at the heart of who we are. Humans use cloth to swaddle newborns, protect and adorn themselves, and shroud the dead. Fabric plays such a prominent role in our lives, it is - ironically - practically invisible. 

I sent around 50 participants each a fabric sample to provoke a short written anecdote. As the stories came back, I felt an enormous sense of value these fabrics give us and to remember the life that our clothes have enabled, both for the wearer and the maker. 

I then applied these handwritten words to my silk screens, and used them to print new designs. Further entangling my obsession with text and textile while at the same time referencing the commercial world of fabric and fabric design.
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Katie Smith: Social Fabric installation
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Katie Smith: Social Fabric installation
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Katie Smith: Social Fabric installation

So after some time in the world of commercial textiles and design, it was a refreshing shot in the arm to be able to think about fabric simply as fabric. 

I've already turned towards my next round of design concepts and this whole process has really kicked my thinking along. So stay tuned.

The exhibition runs at CEAC until May 28. I hope you can get to check it out. 
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Textile Stories

2/1/2017

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Textiles play a big part in reflecting our social history. In some cases textiles can be read like books or maps guiding us to there authors in specific places and cultures. 

​speak loudly about the environment in which they were created. Their subject matter, style, colour and technique all reveal clues about our social history. New Zealand designers have consistently taken inspiration from our native flora and fauna, and drawn from traditional Māori forms such as kowhaiwhai and tāniko.
Often used and discardedOne the one hand, the marketability of textiles has offered artists - frequently women - the opportunity to make a living from their work. On the other hand, the domestic nature of these objects means that they are often used and then discarded when no longer serviceable or fashionable. Auckland Museum holds a small collection of mid-20th century printed textiles, and a growing collection of contemporary textiles and garments with bespoke prints.
Hand printing in the 20th centuryMay Smith graduated from the Elam School of Art in 1931 and soon turned to textile design and production as a way of profiting from her skills. Her hand-blocked works used motifs from New Zealand flora in an abstract and repetitive style. They sold internationally, as well as in local galleries such as the Helen Hitchings gallery in Wellington. Elam graduate Blanche Wormald frequently adapted Māori kowhaiwhai and rock drawings as her subject. Like Smith, Wormald worked with wood or lino blocks to design, prepare and produce textiles by hand. The linocut printing technique uses blocks created from a layer of linoleum adhered to wood. Areas of the linoleum layer are then cut away by the artist, leaving a raised area which forms the pattern when inked. The resulting blocks are durable and can be used for printing hundreds of times; so much so that in 1992 textile designer Ingrid Dubbelt used Blanche's original blocks to reproduce her designs. Auckland Museum holds several examples of these reprints, as well as 72 print blocks.
Expressions of identityFabric can offer a literal blank canvas for the expression of ideas, and this is particularly evident in the work produced by Adrienne Foote under her Footeprints brand. Established in 1983, Footeprints textiles reflect the vivid colours of the decade and send strong messages about the social and political issues of the time. One anti-nuclear design features humorously grotesque animal hybrids, such as eight-legged cats swimming alongside fish with human arms. In 1994, Foote formed a partnership with fashion designer Doris de Pont and created the high-end womenswear label D.N.A., in one range pairing collaged classical motifs with rich fabrics like silk velvet. For her Winter 2004 collection 'Let’s Gather Here', de Pont used the titular work by Niuean artist John Pule as a textile print, referencing the form of Pacific tatau and barkcloth patterns.
Print in contemporary fashionAlthough the manufacture of most fashion fabrics now occurs offshore, some contemporary New Zealand designers have recognised the value in a custom-printed design. In-house fabrics can give the designer further control over the look of a collection, and guarantee a unique finished garment. Auckland designer Ingrid Starnes creates prints, which are produced in short runs by a local manufacturer. Wellington label twenty-seven names collaborates with illustrator Marta Buda to create quirky patterns that complement the youthful style of their clothing. Ingrid Anderson screen prints furnishing fabrics, taking native flora and fauna as her subject but reinterpreting them as bold, enlarged motifs, evocative of mid-century Scandinavian style.



Cite this articleGroufsky, Jane. Print and pattern in New Zealand textiles. Auckland War Memorial Museum - Tāmaki Paenga Hira. First published: 5 June 2015. Updated: 4 February 2016.
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Places and Spaces (cont.....)

29/11/2016

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Welcome to my lastest + last blog on the theme: Spaces and Places. Celebrating some of the creative bricks and mortar spaces that stock my textiles amongst other gorgeous products and dig a little deeper to find out what and who make these places so distinct.

I've been talking to the Maddie Gifford, from the CEAC gallery shop, a place very close to my heart as you can imagine. If you have visited the shop you'll agree its one of the best places to buy cards and NZ Art + Design homewares and accessories in West Auckland! If you haven't visited yet, hopefully you will soon.

Hi Maddie, how long have you been in charge of the CEAC'S gallery shop?
I have been at Corbans for eighteen months now, originally beginning as the Curatorial Intern as part of my Honours year studying Art History at the University of Auckland. I have been the Gallery Shop Co-ordinator since January this year, and it has been the perfect role for me while I complete my Masters in Art History. 

​
How would you describe the shop?
​Quality not quantity is definitely something that comes to mind! Although we are a small space, the Gallery Shop has a carefully curated range of unique ceramic, glass and textile art pieces. We also have an excellent range of jewellery, books, magazines and cards that make us the perfect space to find a inimitable gift, or a special piece for your own collection. I like to think of the shop as its own gallery space, made better with a more approachable price range than you would find in other art galleries.   
 
Do you have a strict rule about only selling handmade NZ products?
We absolutely have a focus on stocking handmade pieces by New Zealand artists in keeping with our outlook as a Gallery Shop – although like anything, there are a few exceptions like our popular Seedling art packs that children absolutely love. As a general rule, I make sure everything we stock is in keeping with our position as a place that houses a unique and unconventional range of items that cater to a wide range of tastes and creatives.  
 
Where do you think the future of retail is heading in general? 
I think that although there are so many mass–produced products and consumerist driven companies accessible to us both online and in our communities, there is a growing appreciation for rarity and the hand-crafted element of the stock that we have in the Gallery Shop. In the future, I think (and hope) that this value for individual creativity and support for local artists will continue to grow and take precedence over the popularity of large, international retail outlets.
 
Can you name some of your favourite designers and or products that you stock?
The more I am surrounded by all the pieces in the shop and understand the complexity of how each item is made, the harder this is to answer! Some of my favourites are definitely our Love Winter jewellery range by Delwynne Winter, Isaac Katzoff’s Glassform sculptures and of course our Smitten Textile Design cushions by you Katie!
 
Describe your shop in 3 words
Luminous, tailored and quaint
 
What do you like the most about working at CEAC?
I absolutely love the sense of history and community that runs through the whole of the Estate as an arts centre. The fact that the shop is located within the Gallery space in the old Corban Homestead gives the shop a very personal feel and a relaxed vibe that is fantastic and calming to work in.
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CEAC gallery shop is open daily 10 - 4.30pm. They also offer free gift wrapping. These photos offer a small glimpse as to whats on offer.
​Check the website for more info www.ceac.org.nz or
www.facebook.com/Corban.Estate/  Time your visit when the Cafe is open, as you won't be disapointed with their coffee! (Coffee Studio, Tues - Sat 10 - 4.30)

Enjoy, Katie, x

P.S if you want to get our next blog directly in your inbox, hit subscribe below.

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Ceramic bowls, plates and cups by Katherine Smyth
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Ceramics by Peter Baigent under Waiheke Ceramics Factory
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Ceramics by Suzy Dunzer and Shane Gallagher
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Wall plaques by Emily Thomas
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Smitten Textiles
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Brooches by Michelle Irving
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Peg dolls by Su McPherson
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Bird pourers and tea pot by Kairava Gullatz
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Spaces and Places (cont....)

26/10/2016

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Welcome to my October Blog:
​Carrying on with the theme: Spaces and Places,
This month, I've been talking to the lovely Ella Pairman, from Coexist, www.coexist.co.nz

Coexist is a shop + workshop, nestled amongst the small boutique stores at Victoria Park Market, an area of Auckland that has been undergoing some interesting changes.
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​​Ella and her business Partner Xi have created a unique space that is refreshingly slick and understated, while at the same time oozes warmth and personality in the clusters of carefully curated objects they sell.  Take a peak at them here: www.facebook.com/coexistgallery/
Hi Ella, how would you describe your business?
​
Coexist is a small eco-conscious homeware and jewellery store. All our products are made in New Zealand by either myself, Xi (the other half of Coexist) or one of our lovely New Zealand artisans. We focus on products made from reclaimed, upcycled or environmentally friendly materials. Our workshop takes up about half of the Coexist shop so that people can come in any time and see our products being made. ​​
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It is an interesting space in the Old Vic Park Market. How are you finding it? what attracted you to the area? 
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Yes, not being originally from Auckland I never experienced the old Vic Park Market.

I was drawn to the idea behind this space. The new owner of VPM is bringing in all New Zealand Made and New Zealand Designed stores.
The feeling of the space is fantastic with its old brickwork, concrete floors and little alleyways and we also loved the idea of being surrounded by other creatives.
​In that way it has worked out wonderfully, the spaces aren’t all filled yet, but there are new places opening monthly and the atmosphere between all the stores is really supportive and of course there is a ton of creative energy when you stick us all together.
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Describe your shop in 3 words 
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Handmade, Local, Eco-Conscious

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Where do you think the future of retail is heading in general? 
We feel that people are moving away from the mass produced low quality products that have flooded into our lives and shops. We are seeing more and more people wanting to buy a few quality items that are beautiful, special and will last, rather than a quantity of low quality pieces that won’t last and have no sentimental value to them. Our customers really value being able to support local artists and artisans and being able to work with us to develop specially designed pieces just for them.

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Is it a challenge to be a maker and shop owner rolled into one? 
Most of the time it’s not. I love chatting with people about what I’m working on, and I think people appreciate being able to see the work in progress. 

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The only real difficulty is running errands. I can’t just pop out if I break my last saw blade and grab a new one.
So in that way I need to be more organised than when I was working from home, but generally speaking I find it easier than working from home. Personally having my work and living spaces separate is better all round.
​Otherwise I find it pretty hard to either stop or start working!

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Where do you find inspiration? 
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I’ve always really loved the work of jewellers Barry Clarke and Anne Culy. I studied Fine Arts so I have also been influenced by a range of painters, sculptor’s photographers and designers.
​I always jump at the chance to visit the Auckland art galleries for inspiration and particularly enjoy the works of Bill Hammond, Francis Upritchard and Rohan Wealleans. 
​The other fantastic part of working in the shop is the conversations I can have with our customers. We often get people stopping in to talk about our workshop and I get a lot of my inspiration just from these discussions.

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I think it’s always really beneficial to talk to other people about your work as everyone brings a different view point which can help you see your practice from a whole new angle.  ​​​
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So, I reckon Coexist is a very worthy place to visit! If you are out of Auckland, you can visit their website online store  www.coexist.co.nz  instead.
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I was chuffed with Ellas choice of colours for the handprinted cushions and loved making these especially for the shop. They sit so perfectly with the jewellery, leather goods, artworks and hand crafted wooden objects.
You're gonna want it all!
Now, I cant wait to share next months special store/story, keep tuned in.



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