The Craftmen’s 'Plant Explorations' collection at this year’s London Craft Week reflected on the craft techniques that have been passed down through the generations, using materials cultivated right here in our own backyard. It highlighted the sustainable and ethical potential of slow, deliberate making and celebrated the immense opportunities in creating with plants.
The New Craftsmen urged their makers to think on the growth and usage of their craft, as well as the skill and ingenuity of makers throughout history, and respond by making their own unique creations to commemorate their tenth anniversary. 'Plant Explorations' dived into plant-centered creating traditions, as well as humanity's constantly creative, ingenious, and imaginative approach to finding practical and beautiful solutions to their problems.
Visitors to the exhibition could watch and participate in the making process, gathering around the table with basket maker Hilary Burns, who was making string out of plants, and multi-disciplinary maker Lola Lely, who was hand dipping some of her spectacular plant specimens into wax to create delicate artworks.
There were also weavers such as Catarina Riccabona and woodworkers like Lisa Atkin, Pip Rice, Takahashi McGil and Cyriaque Ambroise. The resulting exhibition featured unique indoor lighting, furniture, baskets, and artifacts, as well as one-of-a-kind artworks made from plant materials.
Many of the items on show were the result of a collaboration with the New Craftsmen, or the culmination of a maker's lifetime of experiences, which could be viewed as a book or a story told in objects.In the end, 'Plant Explorations' proved to be an amazing and inspiring exhibition.
The New Craftsmen did a fabulous job in showing the world just what they are made of and what they can do!
