Alabasta designs at the British Ceramics Biennal, Stoke on Trent

Even though there are no Alabasta ceramics in production quite yet, some of my placemat and tray designs sneaked into the prestigious British Ceramics Biennal in Stoke on Trent last week. I have been a member of Contemporary Applied Arts in London for many years selling my own label handmade cashmere and silk hand dyed scarves through this lovely outlet. As Alabasta has developed and as I have been getting more and more pregnant I have been making less scarves but CAA is still the place to go to for the best selection. Last year I participated in DomesticMatters at the CAA (see this post), which was all about members of CAA who also diversify into production runs of other related products. This latest show, also curated by Brian Kennedy with homeware design consultant and ceramic designer Sue Pryke shows a mixture of textiles, surface pattern and glass alongside contemporary ceramics from well known potters such as Andrew Wicks and Natasha Daintry.

"CRAFT INTO INDUSTRY examines the possible relationship between British studio practice and the ceramics industry. Sue Pryke and Brian Kennedy were keen to not only look at ceramicists for this exhibition but to explore and present makers from a wide range of disciplines as they strongly feel that there are many partnership possibilities between studio practitioners and the British ceramics industry.

Bringing together a collection of artisans making their own product in isolation this exhibition highlights pockets of creativity, pioneering skills and design ingenuity that can be of interest to industry.  The work highlighted here signifies how applicable the concepts, forms and processes are for production. The collection is an illustration of how a designer would bring together a beautiful range of ware.  Deciding on shapes with commonalities, balancing variation within materials, colour and texture to build a series. Working with makers, or factories, to develop a range of work with intrinsic values that complement the other forms in the range and drawing on the skills and knowledge from a multitude of crafts. 

Including work by Asta Barrington, Heather Belcher, Elizabeth Bone, Daphne Carnegy, Carina Ciscato, Natasha Daintry, Ekta Kaul, Sarah Kay, Chris Keenan, Sun Kim, Billy Lloyd, Grant McCaig, Nick Membery, Sue Paraskeva, Michael Ruh, Vicky Shaw, Janice Tchalenko, Sasha Wardell, Andrew Wicks, Derek Wilson and Sue Pryke."

The look of the exhibition is quite 'raw' because it is taking place at the Original Spode factory so is surrounded by the atmospheric and possibly rather dusty debris from the workings of an old pottery!

Alabasta Folk Stripe placemats and coaster shown with Asta Barrington scarves plus Janice Tchalenko ceramics on their left and surface pattern on the walls.

38cm Alabasta Folk Stripe tray and coaster with my ruched lambswool silk scarf and satin peapod silk and cashmere scarf

Ceramics by Andrew Wicks in the foreground and Chris Keenan to the left

All photos by Brian Kennedy.

CRAFT INTO INDUSTRY is now open at the British Ceramics Biennial until 10th November 2013.

Opening times: Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12 noon-5pm

BCB Design: Tableware
Original Spode Factory Site
116 Church Street
Stoke-on-Trent
ST4 1BU

The exhibition will be moved to London next year as part of the Contemporary Applied Art 2014 exhibition programme and installed in their brand new gallery in Southwark.

New Alabasta design: Forest Leaves

The newest design in the Alabasta range is going to be officially launched next month at Top Drawer in London and Maison et Objet in Paris but I'm showing it now because it has just been put on the Avenida Home website for ordering. This one is another deceptively complex pattern, this time showing exotic foliage and fluttering blue butterflies and is entitled Forest Leaves. It is inspired by lush rainforests and mid century Scandinavian ceramics and comes in colours that sit well with the existing Alabasta designs. The darkest shade is a very deep green-black and it is on the same ecru background as the Love Birds design. With flashes of chartreuse, cerulean blue, ultramarine and a vivid jungle green we think it looks modern and strong with a playful element to it and we hope it will prove as popular as the other designs.

This design will be available to order in the rectangular 29.2 x 21.6cm placemat and 10cm square coaster with a matt finish and black baize non-slip base from Avenida Home:

Alabasta Forest Leaves placemat

Alabasta Forest Leaves 10cm coaster

It has already been featured in the upcoming trade show Top Drawer's promotional poster (top right image) so we have great hopes for this new design and hope you like it as much as we do:

Top Drawer retail trade show, 15-17th September 2013

Visit the Avenida Home stand at the following trade shows to see the entire Alabasta ranges for Avenida Home:

6-10 Sept 2013, Maison et Objet, Paris, Hall 8, Stand Bbis77
15-17 Sept 2013, Top Drawer, Olympia, London, Stand A96

www.avenidahome.com

Alabasta stockist focus: Dovetail Living

One Alabasta stockist where you can purchase a selection of the Folk Stripe collection is Dovetail Living, a webshop that specialises in carefully selected interior accessories from both world renowned and up and coming designers. We are delighted that they have chosen Alabasta as one of their designers - they now stock the best selling red 38cm tray, 10cm coasters and glass platter in the Folk Stripe range as well as the Love Birds tablemats. These sit alongside such design classics as the Secto Design range of lighting - another example of innovative use of steam bent Scandinavian birch wood. I also really like the Variopinte range of enamel dishes which have simple stripes of colour so they coordinate well with the concentric circles of the Folk Stripe range. Owner Samantha Mureau is an ex TopShop buyer and has done a lot of trend forecasting for the industry so has a keen eye for new products and trends. According to Samantha, now that summer is around the corner it's all about French style market shopping and mixing up your platters and your plates for effortless casual dining...

30cm Folk Stripe heatproof glass platter - ideal for cheese, breads or even as a hotplate for saucepans

Dovetail Living - see their Blog post here

New Alabasta Blue Fish placemat and tablemat design

In addition to the 28cm round Blue Fish placemat we now have a rectangular version in two sizes launched with summer in mind. These are coloured in the original rich dark blue as the trays - the round version is in a brighter ultramarine. The new ones feature five swimming fish in typical intricate Alabasta style against an ivory background with a faint pale blue wave. The design works well on both placemat and tablemat sizes, depending on how bold you like your patterns. The coaster with the fish coming up for air is now also currently available in the darker blue and in a square 10cm format as well as the round in brighter blue. They are all available to order from Avenida Home whether you are an individual or a shop purchasing wholesale.

Alabasta Blue Fish 29x21cm placemat and 10cm square coaster

Alabasta Blue Fish 38x29cm tablemat

New Alabasta tray: 11cm Love Birds mini tray

The Love Birds collection has just had another addition in the form of an 11cm 'mini tray'. Instead of repeating the format with two whole birds which would have scaled the pattern down a bit too much we decided to just have the heads of the birds on this one. They are still enjoying each others company and the little heart is on there too to clarify the subtle sentiment. These mini trays work well as coasters or small plates and because they are dishwashable are ideal for food use.
If you are a retailer they are now ready to purchase in boxes of four from The Åry Trays website in addition to the other four sizes of the Alabasta Love Birds trays. Flat 10cm coasters depicting individual male and female birds with black velour non slip backing are also available from Avenida Home here.

11cm Love Birds mini tray sold and distributed by Åry Trays

10cm square Love Birds coasters sold and distributed by Avenida Home

Alabasta designs for Avenida Home at Tent London 2012

The official launch of the Avenida range of tabletop accessories has happened in the last few days at Tent London and it seems to have gone very well. Tent is part of London Design Festival, an exciting city-wide series of Design events and launches and it takes place in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London's East End. Last year my Alabasta trays were there as part of the Åry Trays stand (see this post) and this year their UK agent Isabel Saiz was there launching her own collection of mats, coasters and glass platters with her new separate venture Avenida Home. I was there on the first day and there was a very good response so I will be posting any developments from the show as soon I hear about it.

Here a few quick shots of the stand - lots of eye catching colours and patterns set off against a dark and moody background:

Isabel Saiz (on the left) on her way to chat to some friendly Dutch journalists on the first morning

The Alabasta and Michael Angove corner at the Avenida Home stand at Tent London

Avenida Home's Alabasta presentation at Tent 2012

All the Avenida products are available to buy online from Avenida Home.

Alabasta Blue Fish tray in Woman and Home magazine, August 2012

Press often escapes me and here is one that nearly got away - the Alabasta Blue Fish 43x33cm tray is tucked into a coastal themed interiors shopping page in last month's Woman and Home magazine. This time it's being promoted by Coastal Home who also got another of my trays in the press - see this previous post. They've got the Blue Fish trays in three sizes as well as the 11cm mini tray coaster in stock.

click the image for a more legible view

Alabasta Blue Fish trays

Thanks, Woman and Home magazine and Coastal Home!

New! Blue Fish placemat and coaster

For a sophisticated colour palette in the kitchen you can't beat the perennial classic of blue and white. After lots of careful design tweaks, the Blue Fish placemat and coaster are now available to order. There is a 28cm round mat with three happy fish swimming in a sea of ultramarine blue waves - when you put your plate on top all you'll see is the subtly patterned border so it's quite good for mixing with blue and white china. There's also a cute 10cm coaster that shows one of the fish jauntily coming up for air. They are in a clearer brighter blue than the Blue Fish trays - it's more ultramarine than navy and goes rather well with the bone china ceramics that we are working on. They aren't quite ready to show yet but I'll show them here first, so keep a look out!

All mats and coasters are available to order from Avenida Home.

Alabasta Blue Fish 28cm placemat and 10cm coaster, available from Avenida Home

New! Folk Stripe round coasters, placemats and glass platter

The Alabasta range of tabletop accessories is expanding! I've just designed some new round placemats to complement the rectangular Folk Stripe mats. These ones feature concentric circles like the best selling trays, have a modern glossy finish and come in four tropical colourways. There are four 28cm mats and four 10cm round coasters all made from top quality laminated eucalyptus wood with a heatproof melamine surface. They can be purchased individually so you can choose whichever ones you like most or create a combination, which is what I would do as I like them all mixed up. They are now available to order on Isabel Saiz' newly launched Avenida Home website, as are all the other Alabasta placemats and platters. Find the coasters here and the placemats here.

Alabasta 10cm Folk Stripe coasters

Alabasta 28cm Folk Stripe placemats

In addition to these new mats the 30cm glossy glass platter now has an intensely rich red border with shades of pink, orange, teal and kelly green. It's really vibrant - the photo hardly does it justice. It's great for cakes, bread and cheese but it's also heatproof to 180℃ so ideal for hot pans. Find it here.

Alabasta Folk Stripe Glass Platter

If you're in London and would like to see these and the other Alabasta placemats in real life, they will be on display at Tent London next month where they will be officially launched by Avenida Home on Stand F17. It's at the Truman Brewery in the East End from 20-23rd September and forms part of the jam-packed London Design Festival, a 10 day celebration of London's pivotal role in global design.

New Products and Designs: Placemats, Coasters and Glass Platters

I'm really pleased to say that we now have some very lovely placemats to add to the Alabasta range of home accessories, this time in conjunction with Avenida Home. Avenida Home is a new home accessories company set up by Isabel Saiz who is also the UK sales and marketing agent for Åry Trays, but this is her separate venture. It's been worth the wait because they truly are deluxe and the perfect product to show off all the intricate patterns that make up my designs. They are 4.8mm thick and made from eucalyptus wood with a laminated heat resistant melamine surface and a black velour backing. They have been handcrafted in Britain which shows there is still some manufacturing in existence here after all.

The mats are available to buy individually online in various sizes from Avenida Home where you can see the entire range that Isabel has developed. They range in price from £5 for a 10cm square coaster, £12 for A4 size mats and £18 for a larger 38.2 x 29.2cm table mat. Glass platters are £32. They will be launched properly at Tent London in September, and they will also form part of an exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts this September (more about this nearer the time).

FILIGREE COLLECTION: Love Birds

First I'd like to introduce a brand new design called Love Birds which shows a pair of intricately patterned exotic birds with flamboyant tails and beady eyes. The birds are a combination of black and indigo blue and on a cream background. There are two mat sizes as well as a pair of 10cm square coasters, each with one of the birds on. Because this sits well with the Alabasta Blue Fish tray designs we have decided to put both Fish and Bird collections under the umbrella name of 'Filigree'. The Love Birds mats and coasters can now also be bought in store from Liberty in London. The Blue Fish mat is having a slight redesign so I'll show this when it's done...

Love Birds 38.2 x 29.2cm large tablemat

DAMASK
There is also a new design in the mats only called Damask, which complements the style of the other collections but is more tonal and larger scale in design. This comes as a square 24cm mat and 10cm coaster in three modern colourways - red/coral, bright green/aqua and a fashionable iris blue mauve:

Damask 24cm square mat and 10cm coasters

FOLK STRIPE
There are also mats in the multicoloured Folk Stripe pattern and the stripes are straight on these as opposed to curved on the current range of trays. Two sizes are available, 29.2 x 21.6cm with an ivory background and larger 38.2 x 29.2cm tablemat with coloured background, plus a 10cm square coaster:

Folk Stripe mats

GLASS PLATTERS AND WORKTOP SAVERS
Last but not least are toughened glass platters designed for protecting worktops, using as chopping boards and generally making your dinner table look special. These are heat resistant to 180℃ so can take hot pans. The pattern is fired onto the underside of the glass in a process similar to enamelling so they are really resilient and the colours look very rich. There is a smooth glossy 30cm round Folk Stripe platter:

30cm Folk Stripe Glass Platter

...and finally a colourful large rectangular worktop saver with a slight ridged texture on the surface:

40x30cm Folk Stripe worktop saver

To summarise, these brand new tabletop accessories are currently available to order online at Avenida Home only at the moment and delivery will be within 4 weeks, or you can find the Love Birds mats in store at Liberty. I will list any new stockists as soon as I know where they are selling. 

Alabasta trays are available from the stockists on the sidebar to the right of this page. 

All photos copyright Asta Barrington.