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.

Alabasta designs at upcoming Maison et Objet and Top Drawer trade shows

If you are a trade buyer there will be a couple of opportunities in the coming weeks to view and order the entire range of Alabasta products:

MAISON ET OBJET Paris, Parc des Expo, 6-10th September 2013
Åry Trays, Hall 6, Stand Q25
Avenida Home, Hall 8, Stand Bbis77

TOP DRAWER  London, Olympia, 15-17th September 2013
Avenida Home, Stand A96

Åry Trays will be showing the current collection of Alabasta trays in all sizes including Folk Stripe, Love Birds and Blue Fish. Avenida Home will be showing the current range of Alabasta placemats and coasters including the brand new Forest Leaves design (see photos below) plus hopefully the launch of some very lovely jacquard woven Blue Fish kitchen textiles of which you can take a sneak peek at on my Instagram page. I'll be blogging about those when they are officially launched very soon.

Alabasta Forest Leaves placemat from Avenida Home

Alabasta Forest Leaves 10cm coaster from Avenida Home

I'm intending to visit Top Drawer on the final day but I'm missing Maison et Objet this time sadly - I love seeing what's fresh and new out there and that show covers it all.

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.

DomesticMATTERS exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts, London

Although the Alabasta home wares collection is a new venture for me, as a textile designer-maker I've been hand making embroidered scarves and blankets for many years under my 'Asta Barrington' own label. They've sold all over the world from Japan to the USA in prestigious shops such as Barneys New York, Takashimaya and Designers Guild. I make them from start to finish here in Bath, and that involves laboriously stitching cashmere, wool and silk fabric then hand dyeing them so the different textures take on subtle variations. Here's my current website, though it's going to go through a long overdue redesign soon.

I established Alabasta because I wanted to create a more accessible and broad range of home wares with patterns on them that I would never have been able to achieve with my existing textile techniques. The intricate swirling linear and animal forms I design have taken a few years to come together and this change of direction has been a breath of fresh air for me creatively.

The two strands of my work appear unrelated on the surface but they demonstrate that a designer need not be restricted to a single medium. They have the same influences and values: a passion for colour, use of the highest quality materials and a desire for innovation, but are executed in different ways.

Contemporary Applied Arts in central London has been one of the main outlets for my embroidered Asta Barrington products for many years and they always stock a good range of my cashmere and silk scarves. They have a constant programme of interesting exhibitions that showcase the work of their 300 designer maker members and this year I was asked to participate in the DomesticMATTERS exhibition curated by Brian Kennedy and Peter Ting, which is summarised here:

"The basic tenets of Modernism emphasized function and utility; abstract beauty, and sculptural form; honesty in materials and honesty in design; the use of modern materials and technology as well as an emphasis on the use of natural materials, beliefs and ideals that sit comfortably with contemporary craft. DomesticMATTERS explores this common ground and will create the imagined home of a collector of mid century modern furniture and contemporary craft over the gallery and board room spaces at CAA.

 CAA members, working in the furniture area, have designed production pieces for Benchmark, SCP and Heals and it is this body of work that we would like to draw from for this exhibition. By focusing on some of this production work as well as work from a wider range of materials, ceramics, glass, metal, textiles and wood within the exhibition further connections would be made between the concerns and values within modernist design and those of the contemporary designer maker. Placing contemporary craft/design within the broader context of modernist design and focusing on the issues of small and mid scale production for the domestic space during the London Design Festival would open up a timely opportunity to debate these issues." Brian Kennedy 2012

I have the entire Alabasta Folk Stripe collection of Åry trays (including the so-brand-new-I-haven't-had-a-chance-to-mention-them-yet Folk Stripe Woven trays), some Folk Stripe mats from Avenida and one of my hand made wool blankets in a bright cherry red in the show. They hang and sit in happy juxtaposition with products from over 30 other CAA members including some top quality ceramics from the likes of Chris Keenan and Derek Wilson plus some mid century furniture courtesy of the Rocket Gallery:

DomesticMATTERS at CAA, showing my Texture Stripe Target Fringe wool throw in the foreground and Folk Stripe trays on the wall.

Shelves by Tomado from the 1950s with Chris Keenan and Derek Wilson ceramics. Spot the brand new 49cm Folk Stripe Woven tray

Folk Stripe red 38cm tray with Tomado shelves and Derek Wilson ceramics

Andre Cordemeijer desk from 1959 with the new Alabasta Folk Stripe Woven 27x20cm tray and Derek Wilson cup and saucer

Alabasta for Avenida Home Folk Stripe placemats with Lubna Chowdhary storage jars and Jane Cox ceramics

upstairs at the DomesticMatters exhibition at the CAA, London

The new Alabasta Folk Stripe Woven 43x33cm tray cleverly displayed downstairs in the slide viewing area in the CAA Reading Room

The exhibition opened today and is on until Friday 20th October at 2 Percy Street, London W1T 1DD.

Read more about it on the FT How to Spend It website here

Corinne Julius' coverage in the Evening Standard's Homes and Property supplement:

Evening Standard, 12th September 2012

Coverage for this exhibition as part of London Design Festival can also be found in Homes and Antiques magazine's September 2012 issue:

click the image to read at a legible size