Ella Robinson

Orange, Yellow and Green, 2006
Balsa wood and poly-cotton
12 x 15.5cm

Ella Robinson is a talented young artist whose work celebrates vibrant colour, pattern and unexpected textile materials. She is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Art, London.

Working with both found and purchased media, she creates one-off hand crafted pieces inspired by the colours of the urban environment and the charm of the coast.

Cream and Brown, 2006, polypropylene and poly-cotton (shown flat), 35.5 x 42.5cm

Cream and Brown, 2006, polypropylene and poly-cotton (shown curved), 35.5 x 42.5cm (when flat)

 Red and Blue, 2006
Balsa wood and poly-cotton (shown curved)
37 x 46.5cm (when flat)

Biography

Ella Robinson was born in Brighton (UK) in 1984, and her passion for art was first realized during experimental A-Level lessons, where numerous found materials were used to create works: ring pulls from drinks cans, large pieces of wood found in skips, scraps of materials and ribbon. She found it more exciting to work three-dimensionally with found materials, discovering their unique properties, rather than to paint or draw.

Formal study

Robinson studied Multi Media Textiles at Loughborough University, where the same principles of re-use and the embracing of the everyday were encouraged. Here too began 

Turquoise and Black Fabric Design, 2006,
Ribbon and poly-cotton
36 x 29cm

her love of marrying vibrant colors to striped imagery.

After graduation Robinson was selected by Texprint as one of the best 24 graduating textile designers in the UK, going on to exhibit in Paris and Hong Kong, and was awarded the Texprint “Colour Prize”. As a result of this, she then spent three months in Como, Italy, undertaking an internship in Product Finishing at Ratti, an international luxury textiles company.

From 2007 to 2009 she undertook a Master’s Degree at the Royal College of Art, London, where she studied Mixed Media Textiles. 
Her summer show featured the more concluded and larger-scale results of one year’s experimentation with both bought and drift wood, used in conjunction with purchased materials such as rayon thread, stranded cotton, and plastic tubing, to create vibrant and striped decorative objects and sculptural pieces.

Black and Transparent, 2006
Polypropylene and poly-cotton
15 x 18cm

Canoe Cocktail, 2009, stranded cotton and driftwood

Professional work

Since graduating, Robinson has continued to combine found wood with more traditional textile media. 

She has also launched “Driftwood Accessories”, a range of necklaces and brooches made from embroidered and wrapped wood fragments. These were previewed at The Knit and Stitch Shows (2009) in both London and Harrogate after Robinson was selected to exhibit within their Graduate Showcase.

Spinning Turtle, 2009, rayon thread and driftwood, 42.5 x 20.5 x 5cm 

Claire-Anne O' Brian

Plaits

Originally from Co.Cork, Ireland, Claire-Anne O’Brien is a textile designer based in East London. 

After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2006 with a BA in Textiles, Claire-Anne went on to gain an MA in Knitted Textiles at the Royal College of Art in 2010. In 2011 she recieved the Future Makers Award from the Crafts Council of Ireland. 

Knot Knit

With a sculptural approach to textiles, Claire-Anne explores form, construction and scale through the unique properties of knitted fabrics.

Olann

Fite

Olann [meaning wool in Irish] is a new collection of handknitted wool furniture. Olann’s takes inspiration from traditional Ireland, where fishing and knitting were at the heart of village life. Patterns are based on familiar elements such as Aran jumpers, fishing knots and willow baskets, re-imagined as a contemporary language of craft. Applied to simple furniture forms such as a bench, an ottoman and a chair, fabrics explore scale and construction using the unique properties of knit.

Links

Each piece is knitted by a team of skilled homeworkers which keeps production local and the cottage industry tradition alive. Olann is made from a bespoke British wool, especially made by Laxtons Mill in Leeds, one of the oldest surviving spinners in the country. 

Rings

Natural materials such as coconut fibres, unspun wool and duck feathers have been used in place of more common upholstery materials such as polyester fillings and foam. Each piece is made by hand, unique, and infused with time and skill.

Elisa Strozyk

Elisa Strozyk

by Caroline Aufort

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

When you think about designed object, lot of super famous designers and object came into your mind, but the essence of design is more about innovation of shapes and matters, then it can become part of our culture.

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

That's exactly what Elisa Strozyk is making, turning wood into flexible textile : surprising and playful way to use this material ! The outcome is really fantastic, and shows us that innovation is still part of the game, using traditional material to create new forms, reconnecting us to real feelings and a new tactile experience.

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

he explained the world around us is becoming immaterial, with all the way we have to communicate with people, by mail, messages, calls, using internet to live, buy, get informations of the world : a society of pictures and waves. The place for printed and matters is becoming tiny, but making it luxury and precious.

And that's what she want : "Giving importance to surfaces that are desirable to touch can reconnect us with the material world and enhance the emotional value of an object."

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

There is also a part of  earth care in her work process, as she said "Another way to save resources is working with reused or recycled objects and material waste. Also it is crucial to aim for a closer relationship between subject and object.This can be achieved through more flexibility and changeability, the possibility of growth or surprising elements. In the future we will have to deal with more waste and less resources. Therefore it is fundamental to be aware about life cycles of objects. That means to use material that is able to grow old beautifully. "

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

Born in Berlin, Strozyk studied at prominent arts colleges at a young age, ENSAD (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs) in Paris and KHB (Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee) in Berlin, before she received her masters in Future Textile Design from London’s Central Saint Martins in 2009.

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

There is no doubt the young woman is particularly well-qualified when it comes to design pedigree, but it is the artistry, originality and use of symbolism, in which her works and approach display a depth and maturity beyond her years, considering she is only 28 years old, –and is already capturing hearts and minds the world over.

Ernesto Neto

by Ryan Moriz

Ernesto Neto is a contemporary artist from Brazil, considered one of the absolute leaders in the country's art scene. For the artist, it is important that the viewer should interact with his work, engaging multiple senses and exploring a multi-sensory experience.

Inspired by Brazilian Neo-concretism, a movement in the 50s and 60s that rejected modernism and its geometric abstraction, Neto's work resembles living organisms and an organic architecture. As described by the artist, his work is an exploration of the body's landscape from within.

His work is primarily exhibited in large exhibitions, where the abstract installations grow and often fill the entire space. Pourous and stretchy nylon or cotton fabrics create a skin around wooden skeletons or hang from the ceiling like tear drops. These materials are often filled with spices, inviting the spectator not only to touch the work but also smell and sense it. In other works, the material is used to make organic structures itself.

Neto has been awarded Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his installation at the Panthéon in Paris called Leviathan Thot. In 2009 the artist exhibited at New York's Park Avenue Armory, filling the 5,100 square meter hall with a maze-like structure.

His latest installation is for the Louis Vuitton store in Tokyo, where visitors were invited to walk on and interact with a suspended pathway made from his stretchable material.

Handmade textile - by Bosenco

HANDMADE

bosenco 

by Ryan Moritz

"Corien Forest is a textile designer and carpet maker. Under her company name, Bosenco, Corien creates brightly patterned textiles inspired by nature and traditional or folkloric patterns.

The motifs of these handmade textiles are derived from nature in the far north, with forms like stars, snow, ice, needle branches, hearts, and geometric lines. A variety of color combinations are visible, which comes from the necessity to create a strong and warm effect using two threads.

Originally a graphic designer, Corien is inspired by the  designs and colors of Scandinavian, English, and French patterns with a rich history. Communities in these areas have for centuries had their own pattern and color combinations using a variety of crosses, diamonds, and roses to make lovely designs.

Bosenco carpets were born by putting these historical and geometrical motives in a large formats and in a new context.

For the future, Corien hopes to reflect sheet music from organ books into designs which will be named after the titles of the music. Among her favorites include the color red, stretching in the morning, wool, Phillip Glass, and a cold potato salad on a summer day."

 

Bosenco makes other products such as cushion covers and  scarves

Scarves

Cushions

in the press

Indigo

HANDMADE

modern blue

Text by Philip Fimmano. Pictures by Yuriko Takagi for the latest issue of Revue Canopée. 

Special thanks to Françoise Lemarchand.

"Of all the natural dyes that have coloured history, it is perhaps indigo which has the most resonating presence; its dark and deep blue has been much sort-after since ancient times and it enjoyed flourishing trade up until last century when synthetic dyes became preferable for industrial production.  The continued success of denim blue bares witness to indigo’s most recent heritage, and the colour has been embraced by yarn and cloth weavers the world over from Japan to Martinique.

There are more than 200 known varieties of Indigofera, although only a dozen or so provide qualities that work best for textiles.  First known from the Indus Valley from which the plant is named, indigo’s lush and green-leaved shrubs are present across South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, traded by the French, Dutch, English and Spanish, and transplanted along with the slave trade and colonial farming.

Known for their dermatological benefits, indigo-dyed fabrics are perfect to keep close to the skin, whether as garments, carpets or bedding.  Once reputed as body-paint for warriors and even used by the Egyptians during mummification, indigo is a magical dye that can be considered a healer and a coloured talisman of sorts.

Indigo’s appeal was also discovered by eight special textile lovers following a research trip to the West African nation of Benin in 1993.  Once they understood that local indigo was endangered by imported and synthetic competition, as well as a move away from local styles, a visionary non-for-profit association called Heartwear was initiated to support the survival of indigo crafts and promote their beauty around the globe; designing fashion and textile products in fine cotton and linen, true to their indigenous identity and enhanced along the way.

Having worked with numerous tie-dye and batik techniques, including favourites such as banana leaf and fish bone patterns, Heartwear’s yearly collections are sold each spring in pop-up venues completing a long craft chain that starts with those who knot the textiles, to those who dye the batches, to those who remove the knots, to those who wash, dry and press the fabrics, to those who sew them into garments.  Honouring the humanity within humanitarianism and respecting the artisan within artisanal, Heartwear has continually sought to elevate this cottage industry to appeal to a refined contemporary taste for local products in increasingly global times.

Only turning blue when the dyed object is removed from the vat and oxidised by air, recipes are often closely-guarded secrets, although their basic formula remains the same: dried leaves fermented with a variety of other natural ingredients.  The more times an object is dyed and dried, the darker the indigo colour becomes; with the famous Yoruba Blue achieved after seven saturating dips.

Today, indigo is experiencing a revival in fashion and interiors, as artisan techniques are incorporated into the serial.  Our craving for natural colour and a more intense blue value reflects a need by consumers for authenticity and the handmade, feeling more connected to the textile’s long history of craft.

The denim and casualwear markets have rediscovered real indigo’s power and that clients are prepared to pay significantly higher prices in order to enjoy the soft wear in colour and fibre that only true indigo provides.  And with bountiful techniques employed to beautify the surface, indigo’s charm is universal, set to continue in the decades to come."

Source: trendtablet.com

Handmade heartware

HANDMADE

heartwear

"In 1993, with a group of stylist friends, Lidewij Edelkoort created Heartwear, a non-profit association that helps to sustain handcraft knowledge and thus collaborates with artisans to tailor their products for worldwide export, without compromising the skill, knowledge, culture and environment of the region involved. 

Design talent is coupled with marketing insight. Trend forecasting skills are balanced with historical and cultural knowledge. Among its many projects, Heartwear has developed indigo textiles for home and fashion with artisans in Benin, ceramics with potters in Morocco, and khadi cotton in India.

Active members are:  Lidewij Edelkoort, Karen Petrossian, Yves Venot, Daniel Cendron, Corinne Delemazure, Sophie Carlier, Gert van de Keuken, Lucien Aquilon, Donald Namekong, Serghado."

Source: trendtablet.com

Ballerina

Jeg har lavet denne fine ballerina i papirklip, den pynter på vores hoveddør denne jul...


I made this fine ballerina in paper clip for the decoration at our front door this Christmas ...

Nye puder december 2012

 Puder med neonpink/gult/grønt print

New cushions with neonpink/green/yellow print

Nye puder - december 2012

40 x 40 kr. 350,-

Nye printede puder - her i lilla/brun - vist med små uglepuder fra Musahar

New print cushion - purple/brown - owlcushions from Musahar

Tehætte

Tehætte med 4 slags print kr. 275,-

Teacosy with 4 types of print...