As we try to escape from the realities and confusion of a frenzied, phoneaholic world in which our every move is monitored, there is a rising demand for privacy and seclusion – and a growing desire to find secret, hidden away spaces. A surprising discovery amidst the crowded backstreets of Tokyo’s Harajuku is The Hideaway […]
New technology has the potential to revolutionize our lives for the better, but is overly dependent upon readily available power. We’ve mentioned the likelihood of future power outages in previous Visuology posts. Only when we can obtain power from a reliable source (that does not require oil, gas, electricity or water) will we be able […]
We flagged up mosaics and marbling as two key trends in decorative design in Visuology Issue 2. In particular, we’ve noticed that artists, craftspeople and accessories designers are increasingly employing traditional mosaic work in art and interiors. Childlike, yet troubling, Cleo Mussi’s reclaimed ceramics draw on the interaction of human life with the natural world […]
Art and fashion lovers the world over are inspired by Frida Kahlo, yet few will ever have travelled to Mexico. Now there’s a chance to get a taste of genuine Mexican style in London, by visiting Made in Mexico at the capital’s Fashion and Textile Museum. The colourful new exhibition on the art of the […]
The Indus Valley area has a longstanding tradition of stitch-craft and textile weaving, but in recent years the quality of workmanship has deteriorated due to a lack of emotional connection between the makers and their craft. As part of her PhD at the Royal College of Art, Seher Mirza set up a project not only to […]
Craft workers and product designers are rapidly becoming the new elite of the art world. Master craftspeople, working with basic materials like wood, natural resin, wax, stone, metal, glass, leather, wool, paper or clay, create practical objects, as opposed to functionless art. Practicality and ease of manufacture is seen to outweigh the need for refined […]
The Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi sees imperfection as a form of beauty – a product can actually be enhanced by its irregularity. Here we take a look at some designs which celebrate the imperfection of handcrafted work. In the spirit of our previous post, Kaixi Lin reuses discarded materals to create functional woven textiles. Inspired […]
This exhibition should have niche appeal – at least to ‘anoraks’ of the fashion world. Textile designers, embroiderers, costume curators, quilters and enthusiasts of handcrafted fabrics will certainly appreciate the work that has gone into creating the pieces on show. Historians and sociologists may well be fascinated by the backgrounds of the unintentional abstract artists. […]
Oscar Medley-Whitfield creates pottery from Thames mud. Based beside the river in SE1, he calls his creations Wharfeware. There are many problems associated with using mud rather than clay. The drying out and tempering process makes the mud crack and it can’t be modelled and manipulated like clay. Oscar has created his own casting process, […]
The video below shows a small snippet from our latest presentation. A previous Curious Trends report highlighted some of the bee and honeycomb inspired product designs spotted during 2011. Sarah Burton’s Alexander McQueen collection for Spring/Summer 2013 also reflected the beekeeping theme. Bees and honeycomb designs were common features of Elizabethan embroidery. They are now appearing […]