We have been renovating our house for the past three years and are almost at the stage where we can buy 'pretty' things. I've resisted buying ornaments, pictures, until we were ready. Now we are at that stage how do we begin? It's very easy to go into a chain store and buy a complete co-ordinated set of curtains, pictures, ornaments. and I'm sure it would look pretty, but by next year it would be the 'wrong' colour and out of date. An exhibition at the Civic in Barnsley, really made me think about clothes, objects and how we shop.
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ADDED VALUE?
'Added value? questions the value of contemporary craft within the current landscape of branding and luxury.
A desire for authenticity, quality and craftsmanship is redefining our understanding of luxury. The term craft has been adopted as a validation of quality and value by brands and more widely.
The exhibition investigates differing perceptions of value, and public interest in the provenance and production narratives connected with the things we buy and use.
Added value? considers our emotional relationship with things and the value of the unique. It questions - is craft a new language for luxury?'
Taken from the Added Value booklet.
'Despite concerns over austerity, sustainability and carbon footprints,
society has become dependent on industrial over production for a market
that over-consumes. This is due to low-cost design and manufacturing
processes. If we are to avoid drowning in an endless stream of blandness
products, a new approach is required'
Bespoke shoemakers Carre and Ducker.
This pair of shoes is the result of fifty hours of work and more than two hundred processes, using hand held tools.
www.carreducker.com
'Night at the house of Epicurus' Oliver Ruuger 2012
Estonian-born designer Oliver Ruuger produces innovative, elegant fashion accessories, which play with traditional functional forms and designs.
Bompas & Parr specialise in fine English jellies, bespoke jelly moulds and spectacular culinary events.
The St. Pauls jelly was first conceived to lauch the Architectual jelly competition as part of the London Festival of Architecture in 2008.
Tracy Kendall is a London based wallpaper designer.
The sequin design for this wallpaper was inspired by 1920's flapper dresses.
We have an old dangly sequin light shade which we no longer use, so I'm going to recycle it into a picture.
There are also other bespoke wallpapers featuring three dimensional materials such as buttons and puzzle pieces.
As always a fun 'i-spy' game for the children.
This exhibition really made me stop and think, so, I'm going to look for interesting objects on my travels, maybe in the charity shops or car boot sales, on the beach or in the woods, maybe even in a skip, who knows?
