UN Year of Glass, Collect 2022. Tim Rawlinson x London Glassblowing. All photos: courtesy of Collect.
Crafts – 2022 is the UN Year of Glass, a celebration of the heritage and importance of this material in our lives, society, culture, responsible innovation and sustainable economy. We selected seven design crafts debuting at Collect, the only gallery-presented art fair presented by the UK Crafts Council, which opens to the public on February 25 at the Somerset House, London.
- RELATED STORIES: Read more about Collect on Archipanic…
Jahday Ford x North Lands Creative – Photo by Simon Bruntnell.
At Collect Open, the fair’s platform for pioneering craft installations by emerging artists, British artist Lisa Pettibone presents a glass installation relating to transformative scientific concepts that have reshaped our perception of the universe. “I’m interested in form and natural forces and how perception evolves over time,” says Pettybone to Archipanic. Mysterious white glass shapes glide past each other, revealing ever-changing views within the airy assemblage. [Watch the video].
Instrument of Thought by Lisa Pettibone.
Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections presents the Time Rock Stack XVI, a totemic installation and dramatic piece by American artist Dawn Bendick. Cast stones and relics gathered from a medieval church in dichroic glass are embedded with metallic particles and react chromatically to the frequency of light. “These glass timepieces respond to their surroundings and are a way of tapping into our peripheral senses and heightening awareness of changes in seasons, atmospheric light and weather.” Explains the designer.
Time Rock Stack XVI by Dawn Bendick, presented by Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections.
Juli Bolanos Durhman presents The Isles of Reclaimed Wonderment, a new series of 12 one-of-a-kind lighting sculptures. The Costa Rican artist teamed up with Studio Walac to transform waste material into fantastical and functional pieces. Composed of piled glass towers, bottle-buildings and fluted loops, the crafts recall funfairs and abstract scientific devices.
Juli Bolanos Durhman + Studio Walac x North Lands Creative.
Presented by North Lands Creative, Jahday Ford showcases the Axle family of vessels, which combines ancient glass techniques with contemporary innovation. To develop the pieces, the designer used a 3D modelling software then transferred it into the wood with a CNC cutting process to make moulds that can be used in combination with traditional glass blowing techniques. The collection “creates an evolution from a computer-coded object into a three-dimensional form that carries the characteristics of both processes.”
Jahday Ford x North Lands Creative – Photo by Simon Bruntnell.
“I use glass to preserve the value of my culture identity,” says Anthony Amoako-Attah, describing how he replicates the fabrics of Ghana in his glassworks. They incorporate traditional Ghanaian Kente designs and Adinkra symbols through the use of powders and enamels, which give the glass pieces the appearance of vibrant fabrics. Anthony Amoako Attah is presented by Bullseye Projects.
Transition Of Life by Anthony Amoako-Attah x Bullseye Projects.
Fascinated with the way light passes through glass, British craftsman Tim Rawlinson presents exquisite sculptures exploiting “transparency, as an essential and primary quality, manipulating and distorting both colour and form in order to challenge his viewer’s perception,” says Rawlinson, presented by London Glassblowing.
Tim Rawlinson x London Glassblowing.
Esh Gallery showcases the work of Japanese glass artist Shoei Yokoyama who presents ethereal vessels. “Molten glass can be transformed using gravity, heat, air, and centrifugal force. We can also use our breath and make the glass take shape, and through the transparency of the material, we can visualize the shape our breath will create.” Explains Yokoyama.
Amorphous by Shoei YOKOYAMA x ESH Gallery.
