A few of my favourite things!

Chiara Scarpitti.

"quasicristalli 2011 | Chiara Scarpitti - tetraedri-spille (brooches)"

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/390476230166443390/

"Designer specialized in contemporary jewelry and PhD candidate at International Doctorate in Design and Innovation at Second University of Studies of Naples with a research about the practice of making as speculative research of Design. Her works develop on different aspects of the contemporary, hybridizing the technology with a humanistic approach, using the most innovative production techniques between advanced industry and high craft.

http://www.chiarascarpitti.com/

..

Her shop: http://www.chiarascarpitti.com/shop_online/

Her blog: http://chiarascarpittistudio.tumblr.com/ "

I find Chiara Scarpitti's work inspiring because the mix between structure and organic materials has made me realise that contrast within work plays off each other and makes one another appear stronger or more appealing. I'm very inspired by mixed media objects and projects because of the different textures and elements being mixed. I enjoy her website because of the ambiance she creates, her philosophy on her website reads interesting as she's inspired by poetry and various other art forms. She works in various forms but I love the piece above because of the accuracy and skill behind everything, I think this piece appears simplistic and easy to look at but from a makers perspective I find it amazing how the structure is so straight and perfect.

Han-Chieh Chuang

Red brick brooch serie- silver, copper, enamel, steel wire.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/106397609920043723/

 "Contemporary jewellery artist 

Based in Edinburgh, United Kingdom

From Taipei, Taiwan

My growing background and experience of the environments has strongly influenced the concept of my works. Growing up in such an advanced capital city I have become gradually tired of busy urban lives and yearn for the simple and buoyant life in traditional Taiwanese farming villages where people are sanguine and content. Agriculture has played an extraordinary role in Taiwan’s history. It has brought the island economic foundation and wealth, however as time goes on and the development of technology, traditional agriculture has lost its position. The relationship between people and land has been neglected. I’m proud to be a Taiwanese but I feel sorry for the lost of the dear tradition and the simple attitude toward life. Thus, I look for elements that have come from my affection for my homeland, particularly, the Taiwanese agriculture combining techniques with hand craft skills to complete series of works that I hope to express the strength and emotions connected to my home. I believe art has a strong power of communicating messages. Through my works I expect to pass an idea of the beauty of my homeland and bring it back to those hearts where beauties have been forgotten. 

I use enamel as my working material because of the texture and colours it brings. I’m attracted to its rich possibilities of colours and its characteristic of uniqueness. Every single enameling gives unique result and challenge. Through exploring and controlling the material I tell story of texture and colour and bring out the layers and completeness of my works. "

http://hanchiehchuang.com/

I absolutely love these brooches because Han-Chieh Chuang has incorperated these different textures within their work and pairing it with bright colours, I find it so attractive to the eye. Her work showsdifferent aspects of skills, organic ways using enamel onto the surface and then using steel wire as a perfect structure. Their inspiration behind the work makes me feel like I should explore my enviroment further and cultural differences.

Winde Rienstra.

"Architecture meets Fashion. Haute Couture Collections and Accessoires. Shoe Designer"

https://twitter.com/WindeRienstra

"Winde Rienstra’s work is situated at the boundaries of fashion, art and architecture. Rienstra’s fascination with spatial structures around the human body has led to a recurring play with three-dimensionality. Each of the resulting spatial designs is a new opportunity to allow the materials to shine like jewellery around the human body.

Winde Rienstra is not only know for her fashion designs, but is also famous and appreciated for her experimental and daring shoe designs."

http://www.fashionweek.nl/en/designer/winde-rienstra

Pump

Collection Spring/Summer 2012

photo by Peter Stigter

http://www.virtualshoemuseum.com/winde-rienstra/pump

I'm very interested in the structures and forms Winde Rienstra uses within her fashion, and although she is a fashion designer she uses the body as a jewellery designer would, selecting items as objects and almost changing models posture and figures with these laser cut, formed objects. I love the details and precise application of techniques. I enjoy her website as the colours are musted but the work and interaction of models reflects her intentions.

Overall looking at the designers and imagery that inspires me I have found I'm interested in mixed media designs, attention to detail and texture along with how they interact with the body! This are everything I want to remember when designing jewellery in my discipline, remembering what the function of the piece is and if not wearable such as Wine Rienstra's, it can still be seen as something couture and unique. 

Craft.

Tuesday 30th September, 2014

Craft is a constant changing term used to describe hand made objects, craft is the process of making something, a handmade product/object that requires skill and unfortunately craft is often referred to as a 'hobby' whereas there's a market for products of this nature where sites such as; https://www.etsy.com/uk/, http://folksy.com/ thrive off this consumer as well as galleries selling work from designers and artists.

"What is Craft?

Cinderella Table, Jeroen Verhoeven, 2005. Museum no. W.1-2006

To celebrate a partnership between the V&A and the Crafts Council, we asked leading figures in the craft world to tell us what the term craft means to them. 

Mark Jones

Director, Victoria & Albert Museum (2001 - 2011)

Craft is remembering that art is seen, felt and heard as well as understood, knowing that not all ideas start with words, thinking with hands as well as head.

Rosy Greenlees

Director, Crafts Council

'Contemporary craft is about making things.  It is an intellectual and physical activity where the maker explores the infinite possibilities of materials and processes to produce unique objects. To see craft is to enter a world of wonderful things which can be challenging, beautiful, sometimes useful, tactile, extraordinary; and to understand and enjoy the energy and care which has gone into their making.'

Laurie Britton-Newell

Curator, ‘Out of the ordinary’ exhibition, V&A,  November 2007

'I use the word craft as an umbrella term, not as the definition of a separate discipline. I find craft difficult when it has an ‘s’ on the end; the crafts implies something clear cut, but it isn’t. When craft is involved with the making of something, be it a pot or a piece of writing, it usually means that the process of how and why it has been put together has been well considered, and generally I prefer it.  Instead of using "that’s cool" people could start saying "that’s craft"!'

Caroline Broadhead

Practitioner

'What craft means to me is the making part, the how you make, and this is an exchange with materials - what you give to a material, and what it gives back. This exchange can be awkward, it can be a struggle, or one party can dominate, but if it is a productive exchange, then that's when it's worth looking at. But ultimately, it is the extra something that makes it special.'

Christopher Frayling

Rector, Royal College of Art

'If you look up the word 'craft' in dictionaries of phrase and fable, the entry will say "see freemasonry".  That's craft as secret knowledge, locked away in some secret place known only to master-craftspeople. Although there's a strong element of tacit knowledge - as distinct from formal knowledge - in all craft activity, this is in fact far from a secret form of knowledge, just a very difficult one to pin down. Making close contact with materials, technical skills plus imagination, tangible results in the form of things, sometimes pushing at the outer limits of function, taking the material for a walk. The American Customs & Excise definition of 'a work of art' is that the owner must be able to prove it is completely useless. Craft work is something else, though it can produce objects for contemplation as well as objects for use.'

Paul Greenhalgh

Director, Corcoran Museum, Washington DC, and editor of ‘The Persistence of Craft’

'Craft has changed its meaning fundamentally at least three times in the last two centuries, and it means fundamentally different things from nation to nation even in the Western world. So there can be no one-liner that identifies larger single meanings, as it doesn't have one. If it is of use in the current context, it is to recognize the significance of genre-based practice in the arts. It should also be a useful category in a global cultural environment. It might even have meaning as a signifier of a socio-political outlook. But it should have nothing to do with aesthetics, and less to do with negative approaches to technology.'

David Revere McFadden

Chief curator and vice president, Museum of Arts & Design, New York

'Craft, art, and design are words heavily laden with cultural baggage. For me, they all connote the profound engagement with materials and process that is central to creativity. Through this engagement form, function, and meaning are made tangible. It is time to move beyond the limitations of terminologies that fragment and separate our appreciation of creative actions, and consider the "behaviors of making" that practitioners share.'

Professor Simon Olding

Director, Crafts Study Centre, Farnham, Surrey

'An expression of human endeavour creatively realised on the borders of utility, design, architecture, sculpture and art. Craft is specific, recognizable and broad enough to carry loaded meaning with good cheer. It means little without its association to the individual maker and the organisations that give it life and value.'

Caroline Roux

Acting editor, Crafts magazine

'Craft has never been more important than now, as an antidote to mass production and as a practice in which the very time is takes to produce an object becomes part of its value in a world that often moves too fast.' "

I agree with this quote by Caroline Roux as mass production increases we lose character to objects and pieces and paying for low quality products that are mass produced with no sentiment or uniqueness. 'Craft' or hand made products are time consuming and creatively designed giving the object character and you're buying someone's speciality skills. Although not everyone can pay for these true craft the market is still large and they're seen as a luxury items that may hold sentiment especially if the object is commisioned work. A lot of people take it upon themselves to create their own objects reading books, magazines and watching youtube videos but there's a huge difference between hand making something for an activity to save money or as a hobby compared to dedicating yourself to career in this field and studying an education in a Craft subject or like myself Applied Arts.

 http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/w/what-is-craft/


Thursday 2nd October, 2014.

In our Brief reading for this module we were assigned to choose a quote from the world of Design, I have selected:

"I think skills are currently really underappreciated in design. Skills are too often thought of as a way of implementing design, whereas I have found the learning of skills to be one of the most important ways of actually changing my way of thinking about things." Darrell Bishop.

I find this quote very true especially in my discipline where knowledge of materials and their properties helps me design an object as properties differ from various materials and processes.
The craft seminar works perfectly alongside this quote because 'craft' books allow people to have access to a step-by-step guide into making something but without the knowledge of solving problems it's very difficult to develop something further or fix something.