After my recent book purchase, ‘The Unknown Craftsman’ written by Soetsu Yanagi which was adapted by Bernard Leach, it’s been great to capture the essence of someone who makes by hand. It has also opened my eyes to the relationship between an artisan or designer and the finished product itself. Should their name be placed on a piece? Should the object evoke or take on a creatives particular style? Should it be universal …
It’s not everyday that we’re lucky enough to come across works like we have here today from Brazilian artist and craftsman Hugo Franca, but boy does it make your morning when projects of this nature do come along. Hugo is responsible for the bespoke handmade furniture that you see before you, all of which he handcrafts from reclaimed wood as a means to preserve the beauty found in the natural environment, through both functional …
Some fantastic wooden pebbles that I came across earlier made by Joel Sayre. They reminded me of two of my favourite woodworkers, one named Alma Allen and the other being Ed Moulthrop, the so called ‘father of modern wood turning’. Possibly Alma because of the shape and lovely finish, and maybe Ed because of the woods that Joel tends to use, which is quite a variety to be honest. The pebble above is made out of a monkey puzzle …
It’s fair to say we have quite a healthy obsession with Japan and their craftsmanship/design. I think it’s easy to admire the fact that in many areas they’ve been driven by the concept of preserving their tradition and heritage of making. Unfortunately here in the West we’ve lost touch with many disciplines that others considered our bread and butter previously, so it’s refreshing to see this humble attachment to craft by Yukinori …
Today we’ve got a new entrant in the store who goes by the name of Mitsuru Maeda. Born in Tokyo, the Japanese craftsman has been manipulating wood for over 15 years. After working at two different workshops during his career he took the jump and started his own workshop in Toyko, where he still makes and resides to this day under the company name ‘Ki-to-te’. As well as tableware, what we’re currently stocking in the shop …
This was a real treat of a find today, and I was quite lucky to stumble across it in all honesty. I was taking my usual travels to come across something unique/different that I could showcase and I had remembered I was going to research sculptor Michael Coffey but never got around to it after seeing a selection of work on the Wright auction site. Once I had dug around a little I …
