May 2013
3 posts
Computer Arts feature 'The future of handmade'
KURUKURU and Venice were recently featured in an interesting article written by Angharad Lewis about the future of the handmade in Computer Arts. It was really good to read about the process of other featured artists/designers and hear their thoughts and to see a discussion about where we are heading collectively in terms of craft and the physical manifestion of ideas.
Financial times Magazine feature
The Map Tapestries were recently featured in the FT magazine following the exhibition at Spazio Rossana Orlandi at Milan Design Week.
Here’s the full interview if you are interested in reading a bit more about the process behind it. Many thanks to freelance journalist Victoria Maw for the feature.
How were the tapestries woven? What type of loom? What type of yarn?
The map...
NY Design week
I am pleased to announce that I will be exhibiting my Map Tapestries series as part of NY design week at Various Projects space. Here & There is a travel themed exhibition, bringing together hand crafted objects from all over the world that explore this subject at this point in time, and is organised by FIELD.
April 2013
2 posts
To Houshi Onsen
Off to Milan, words to follow…
Milan Furniture fair 2013
Section from ‘To Houshi Onsen’, 2013
On friday, work was completed on my latest tapestry ‘To Houshi Onsen’, a weaving that I began to plot out in early January and have been steadily working on since the start of february. ’To Houshi Onsen’ maps a journey I took last July from Tokyo to an onsen (hot spring) in the Gunma prefecture of Japan, the...
January 2013
1 post
Arm loom experiments
Some double cloth experiments I’ve been working on using an Arm computer assisted loom. More soon…
December 2012
1 post
Last post of 2012
My weavings KURUKURU, Kreuzberg and NYC section are currently being shown at Sky High Gallery in Milwaukee.
NOV-DEC 31, 2012
Sky High 2501 S. Howell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53207
+ NEW COLOURWAY OF MAZE is now available to buy. Mustard and royal blue! See here or here
And MAZE was featured in this months Elle Decoration UK…
Thank you for following my work, see you in 2013!
...
October 2012
1 post
MAZE for sale
I have a limited number of MAZE furoshikis for sale, which I am selling in a special box set with 2 risograph prints. Have a look here
Maze Furoshiki Designed for The Link Collective Traditional Japanese multi functional wrapping cloth 90 x 90 cm 100% Cotton Satin Hand printed in Japan (see process interview here) Comes specially boxed with 2 risograph prints. MAZE FUROSHIKI + EMPTY...
September 2012
1 post
The Drawing Room at LDW
Gouache painting in celebration of the airmail letter, for the exhibition The Drawing Room as part of The London Design festival.
August 2012
1 post
Maze weaving
A weaving I made earlier in the summer, a translation of my maze furoshiki design.
7cm x 65 cm
July 2012
1 post
Furoshiki design for Link collective
Today is the launch of furoshiki makers Link’s new design collaborations with myself and Lucinda Newton Dunn. My design Maze, is about the journey out of a city, specifically London. It is an observation of the city’s varying pace, spacing and architecture, and the need to escape beyond the city’s boundaries to nature every once in a while.
After creating the design, I...
June 2012
1 post
Visual Editions commission
I was asked by exciting publishers Visual Editions to create an image for their May newsletter. For each newsletter a different artist/ studio integrate the dingbat type of the Visual Editions logo within the image in some way. See the newsletter here. Many thanks to Visual Editions for inviting me to take part in such an interesting brief.
Detail.
Layout.
Scans.
May 2012
1 post
Pick me up wall hanging
A little more about my recent weaving commission, KURUKURU, a result of the brief by Landfill Editions to create a work ‘that referenced in some way Eduardo Paolozzi’s visual maximalism, disorienting juxtapositions and oblique political commentary.’
From ‘Eduardo Paolozzi’ by Diane Kirkpatrick, Studio Vista 1970
‘Perhaps the central unifying concept which...
March 2012
6 posts
Venice furoshiki
The second in a series of 3 planned furoshikis, 80 venice furoshikis were hand printed and stitched in time to present at Pick Me Up in the Landfill editions ‘LOTS OF PICTURES, LOTS OF FUN’ exhibition.
A furoshiki is a versatile multifunctional Japanese wrapping cloth, uses can be to wrap presents, to keep something separate within your bag- ie a book or item of...
Visualising literature
The final outcome.
Detail.
Detail.
Detail.
Clay ziggurat and arena forms.
I was invited by Billie Muraben of Camberwell press to take part in their project ‘Visualising Literature’ as part of the programme Into the fold.
The aim of the project was to highlight the value of visual intelligence in communication. The brief was to choose a page from a piece of fiction and...
KURUKURU (round and round)
KURUKURU 36 cm x 60 cm
The Landfill ‘LOTS OF PICTURES, LOTS OF FUN’ wall at Pick me up, on until April 1st.
Venice Furoshikis
Last wednesday saw the opening of Pick Me Up 2012, the mammoth graphic art fair at Somerset House. I was invited by Landfill editions to take part in ‘LOTS OF PICTURES, LOTS OF FUN’- a new collection of works by contemporary...
Flag 1 wall hanging
Flag 1
43 x 87 cm
4 shaft loom hand weaving
Wall hanging exploring structure and form within the 4 shaft loom hand weaving process, with an emphasis on combining weft faced weaving and balanced weave. Compositional elements are taken from studies of the language of flags.
New wall hangings
Before the digital age, memories, histories, significant events and vital information for preservation were individually recorded by processes that were all-consuming, the outcome of which was a unique artefact. Hand drawn maps charting our landscapes, tapestries recording historical events, and quilts intricately embroidered with family histories all involved vast levels of...
February 2012
1 post
After a couple of months of having my head down absorbed in projects, it is good to be finally nearing the completion of my first series of weavings and begin to show these experiments. Leading on from the last weaving I showed here, I have made 3 more pieces continuing my investigations into markmaking, colour and surface matiere within the process of weaving and tapestry. I will go into more...
October 2011
4 posts
I was commissioned by the V&A shop to design a print for their successful range of exclusive special editions. After some time of researching the history of the building and institution, and visits wandering the vast and labyrinthine corridors of the wonderful architecture my outcome is ‘Phantasmagoria’ . The print in essence explores the nature of observing a place in the...
In our indian summer a few weeks past I went up to the barns in wales. Autumn is a beautiful time to be in the Brecon Beacons, the intense greens now spotted with fiery flecks. I took my loom with me, and tried some outdoor weaving, trying to take in the surroundings of the barns. Photoshop experiment
I was asked by Computer Arts Projects to create an opening illustration for a feature they were running on how designers can go about creating and selling their own prints. The brief was to show this process in situ. A really enjoyable quick job, the issue is out now. Final image for the feature Layers on the rack
Back in the summer I made this weaving in response to my friend JR Seaton of Call Super’s EP Staircase. There was something in these tracks that got me interested in thinking about the correlation between weaving and music within their processes. Before I have talked about planning vs experimentation in the weaving process. There is definitely a joy in improvising where you will begin to...
September 2011
2 posts
NYC section weaving, further colour studies. Planning red cotton, white silk, blue cotton, yellow linen.
On my last day in New York back in May, my friend Sally and I went to the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art so I could take one last look over Manhattan. In looking out across the park and city I realised how over the course of my time there I had built up an internal map of the city , which from the clarity of the elevated vantage point, and the discussion of bearings with another mind...
August 2011
2 posts
Earlier in the summer I visited the barns in Wales for which I am to create some weavings for. On this trip primarily gathering imagery to what I am instinctively drawn to; realising it takes a great deal of seeing and observing and experiencing a place in order to try to create something that can exist amongst it. More soon.
I was pleased to be commissioned by Unico, a popular chain of interiors stores in Japan, to produce two screen print editions for their autumn/winter collection.See here for more, and below are some photos of the prints on the shop floor. It’s been great to work with Unico and many thanks to my japanese agent Arlequin for their great organisation in this quick turnaround project.
...
June 2011
1 post
A couple of weeks on from returning from my trip to New York, and then a trip to Bristol and Cornwall straight after, I am now back in one spot, and all that has occurred in the past month is beginning to be absorbed.I was lucky in that a great deal of the exhibitions there seemed to cross over in a serendipitous way, in an area I find exciting in Art history; German Expressionism at MoMA,...
May 2011
5 posts
I am on holiday from tomorrow May 12th until May 24th in New York. Any orders placed in my shop will not be posted until the 25th. If anyone has any recommendations for anything in New York, particularly related to weaving, let me know! Thank you
I was asked to take part in an exhibition happening on the LSE campus, to make a response to the building of St Philips, a place rich in social history due to be demolished to make way for a more modern design for the University.The show entitled ‘Students, patients and paupers’ due to the use of the building throughout its history as a workhouse, then hospital, then academic...
Lately I have been using my San Gimignano wallpaper design to investigate the pictorial possibilities available within weaving, in this case, using the tapestry technique which is a weft-faced technique, ie the warp is completely covered and acts as a frame for the horizontal wefts. I decided to weave the designs in a strap/band formation as a lot of current inspiration is drawn from...
The San Gimignano wallpaper design is now up at new Pizza Express branch at Brent Cross, a site specific design was made for this location, as well as a panel for a glass partition.
Some screen printed stationary I made a few months back- notes and stickers, perforated business cards that I screen printed on the reverse of, stickers on a print to be posted.
April 2011
1 post
Around christmas time I was approached by independent publisher Little Otsu based in Portland, Oregon, to produce a book for their living things series they launched this winter. Initially the words ‘Living Things’ circulated in my mind without finding meaning, the stumbling block being a mental block of the two words seemingly opposing each other; in my mind ‘things’...
March 2011
2 posts
Recently I have been working with brilliant design studio Graphic Thought Facility on a wallpaper for Pizza Express, as part of a project looking at a new approach in the interiors and graphic design of Pizza Express, which was being led by interior architect Ab Rogers. The basic black and white stripe synonymous with pizza express was the basic starting point for the wallpaper design, as...
This week I cut my weaving off the 4 shaft table loom that I have been working on since the start if my weaving course which I began in September. The first month or so was getting to grips with knowledge of how to put the warp onto the loom which is quite an undertaking, but I imagine would get easier the more you do it. The close up photos above represent about 4 or 5 hours work in...
February 2011
1 post
The second edition of my book ‘Rain Day’ is now printed and available to buy direct from the Duke Press website. The new edition is printed in one colour at a slightly smaller format with a 2 colour wrap around cover in an edition of 1000. We are also giving away a limited edition A5 risograph print inspired by a spread from the book with each of the first 50 copies bought...
January 2011
1 post
The Poundshop created their third event, for the christmas season, on the weekend of the December 10-12th within the Super Christmas Market at Somerset House. Having created wrapping papers for their previous two pop up shops, I decided to make it a third and look at making a pattern that was relevant to a christmas theme as a challenge to myself. I took reference from a set of candles that...
November 2010
2 posts
New website up, with more to come soon.
Available to buy now, in 3 different colourways, in store at R.Newbold in Japan, or online here.
September 2010
1 post
I am now back in one place and have been looking over some things that happened in this summer. Above, some screen print accidents which occurred whilst I was printing. The first I find interesting because of the way the crosswords/grids of the puzzles page interacts with my print to encourage the architectural elements. I like that the frustrating rushed moments in the print room can later...
August 2010
1 post
Above is my first complete weaving which measures roughly 35 x 37 cm and uses a mixture of alpaca wool, silk, mohair, and cotton and wool blends. At this early stage I have not been consciously considering design and composition but am focusing on the technical aspects of the process; improving the selvedges, tension and the tapestry technique as well as float patterns. The design is...
July 2010
3 posts
I have designed and printed a new poster that is a pair with my previous berlin rooftops inspired repeat design using the same template. These posters are markers for me of 6 months in Berlin and now 6 months in London. Screen printed in black and red as multiples. I would also like to tell you about a screen print edition that early griffin have produced in their 5th series of one of my...
I’ve been working on a print edition for the exhibition ‘Turn up the colour’ taking place at the end of this month at Analogue Books in Edinburgh. Over the past few months I have been making patterned surfaces on cut up paper and investigating the different textures that can be created through the limitations of mono colour and lines intersecting. This is the first...
A new paper created for The Poundshop, which returns this saturday the 17th July at the Shoreditch festival.
June 2010
1 post
Above is a screen print test for some cd artwork I am working on for a london based musician. The artwork is a development of a narrative that has been circulating my mind for a long time now, that I began to explore in a zine I made a while ago called first waves then clouds and this music drew me back to some of the ideas within that series of drawings. The image is supposed to be...
April 2010
1 post
Some screenprint experiments I have been working on from a very unlikely inspiration.
March 2010
5 posts
A while ago I posted on this blog a pattern I had created of geometric rooftops inspired by my time in Berlin. I had wanted to cut them up and rearrange the shapes, so I have used the opportunity of the Poundshop project to create a pattern doing so. The possibilities of compositions that could be created using these elements was in my mind as I was making it and it was quite overwhelming to...
I am taking part in a pop up shop happening next week on Hoxton St called The Poundshop which is a project by Household and Sara Melin. I am making 2 products, one of which is some screenprinted lion postcards which I printed yesterday…here they are above before being cut. I will reveal the other product this weekend if all goes to plan in the printroom this friday! I had a good time in...
