Future Heritage returns to Decorex this year, showcasing the names to commission and collect in British contemporary craft. Curated by renowned applied arts and design critic and curator, Corinne Julius, the acclaimed feature will showcase new pieces made exclusively for the show by 15 makers, working in a variety of different materials.
Curator Corinne Julius comments: “I am really excited about this year’s Future Heritage. As curator I encourage the very talented makers to produce new and unexpected work for the show. I have taken the Decorex 2017 theme of collaboration as a starting point; several of the exhibitors are already working in partnership with other designers, but all of them have collaborated with me for the show, to investigate new processes, push their materials and liaise with other specialists. All have upped their game, in terms of ambition, quality and scale.
All but one of the makers will be creating their largest work yet, with one-off pieces that will demonstrate the possibilities of their craft. They are working with a range of natural materials including wood, metal, textiles, leather, glass and ceramics, but are extending traditional techniques and combining them with new processes.”
Meet the Makers
Ceramicist David Marques will present three intricate installations including ‘Cherry Blossom’ and ‘Bazaar’. Inspired by spring, ‘Cherry Blossom’ combines brass branches with clusters of porcelain cup flowers, while ‘Bazaar’ is a delicate, Moroccan inspired work made up of brass and stained porcelain. All three of his installations can be adapted to any space, whether private or commercial. Ceramicist Lauren Nauman, explores the boundaries within clay through experimental processes. Her striking lantern-like sculptures are made of ceramic, some incorporating silver wire. She has acquired a new kiln to make especially large scale pieces for Future Heritage.
Ceramicist Matt Davis and interdisciplinary designer Naomi McIntosh both use a combination of digital and traditional methods. Davis, who is known for his hyperreal vessels, challenges visual perception and the nature of traditional craft with a series of new vessels and a range of ceramic tiles. Using modern tools and traditional hand-making techniques; he employs multiple software stages to generate models that are 3D printed, moulded and slip cast in bone china. McIntosh, who trained both as an architect and a jeweller, manipulates surfaces to create sculptural objects, transforming 2D surfaces into 3D objects, that results in work that appears to be organic. She presents a striking and original walkthrough of gently curving wooden screens.
Zac Eastwood Bloom also exploits the potential of computer technology to create arresting marble tables that look as if they are being consumed. The consoles sit alongside his brand new marble wall tiles and are the result of his collaboration with Italian marble workshop Torart.
Makers Helen Carnac & David Gates collaborate to produce wood and metal cabinets and a console enhanced with enamel panels and vessels. Carnac creates a series of original interlocking enamel wall panels, to complement Gates’ asymmetrical furniture, which draws upon the visual and structural elements of industrial and agricultural buildings. The theme of collaboration is embraced by Adam Blencowe, who shows not only his own vases, made by casting melting ice forms in powdered plaster, but also a flexible and elegant shelving and seating system made of brass and wood, designed in collaboration with Thor ter Kulve. He also shows his brilliantly coloured double sided Motley Rug Collection, designed with Marine Duroselle.
Collaborations continue with Merel Karhof and Marc Trotereau’s ‘Forest of Light;’ a light installation that includes ‘The Totem’, a slowly rotating light some 4 metres high. Based on the form and construction of the classic lampshade, this series explores a new language of lighting by combining and deforming this familiar object.
Recent graduate ceramicist Ilona Broeseliske also plays with scale, in her case the tiny. She presents a series of precious porcelain boxes and contemporary netsuke – hand holdable treasures. Pia Wüstenberg’s pieces also confound expectations of scale. She celebrates the glories of blown glass, in new collections of brightly coloured tables and vessels in which she combines glass with traditional Sicilian basketry.
Traditional materials and processes are also celebrated and tweaked n a contemporary way by Simon Hasan, renowned experimenter in leather. He presents an installation of leather furniture, wall panels, vases and lighting. This celebration of natural materials is in contrast to furniture maker Richard Lowry’s approach; he celebrates the man-made. His ‘Liquid Plastic’ table collection examines man’s relationship with plastics, demonstrating that plastic can look and be a precious material. His new ‘Bricolage’ series exploits the structural potential of paper and card combined with plastic coating.
Experimentation is the key to pushing design development and no one takes this further than experimental designer Marlène Huissoud. Known for her use of unusual natural materials, she presents a new collection of cabinets created from cocoons and bio resin. In a second series she explores the cocoon form still further, casting it in metal to create sculptural furniture.
Julius continues: “Through Future Heritage, Decorex is giving these makers the opportunity to work in new ways; to explore the process of making, to experiment with materials and to investigate existing and new technologies to transform natural materials to create works relevant to both public and private interiors.” Each maker will be at Future Heritage during the course of the four-day show and will be available to discuss their work and the commissioning process.”
