Ineke Hans Studio

craftscouncil maker's eyea new home for crafta new home for craft selectiona new home for craft selectionstoolstoolsmakemake - recycleshake - folding seatsaquisition: mark laban - rustic collectiona new home for craft: model of a stool by Ineke in 1995

For the reopening of the Crafts Council Gallery London the Crafts Council invited 13 makers with work in the Collections to curate a part of the Maker's Eye exhibition and to put diverse views on craft and making at its centre.
The 13 makers selected upto 15 objects each and a new work by a young maker for the Collection. Ineke made a selection based on: STOOLS & TOOLS, MAKE & SHAKE:

STOOLS 
shows a group of stools that are interesting for the ways they came about through remarkable ways: through community projects (1), through new material developments (2) and through experimental making processes (3)
1. Martino Gamper – Arnold Circus stools, 2006
2. Seongyong Lee – Plytube Stool, 2010
3. Max Lamb – Pewter stool, 2006

TOOLS 
shows a group of objects where experiments with new digital methods were tried out: cnc machining of wood (1), digital hammering (2), digital provided files for etching (3)
4. Gareth Neal – Breakout Piece, 2007
5.  Kathryn Hinton – Digitally Hammered Silver Bowl, 2011
6. Tord Boontje – Wednesday light, 2001 

MAKE 
shows items that amaze because they are man made and intrigue by the incredible way they look: aqua hammering (1), handmade ceramics (2), casting and hand drilling where it looks like 3d printing (3)
7. Hiroshi Suzuki – Aqua Poesy VII, 2002
8. Vipoo Srivilasa – Patience flower XXIII, 2014
9. Sarah King – Light Constructions Neckpiece, 2004

SHAKE 
shows design from the past that deals with very two topical issues for our society today 
re-use & re-fuse 
We produce too much stuff and consequently a lot of waste. New resources are explored by re-using materials or recycle them into new.
10. Sharon Porteous – Classic Carrier, 1997
11. Jane Atfield – RCP2 Chair, 1992
12. Michael Marriott – Prototype XL1, 1991
space & space saving 
Our homes get smaller with less space for furniture. Folding and stacking are ways to save space. This group of 'folders' relates to that reality.
13. Tomoko Azumi – Folding Stool, 1995
14. Richard La Trobe Bateman – Folding Stool, 1994
15. Tom Hall – Benchchair, 1996

proposal for acquisition
Rustic Collection by Mark Laban, 2016

 

Thoughts to The Maker's Eye + new Acquisition

Is craft an activity involving the skill of making things by hand? 
or ... by hand and mind? 
or ... by hand and tools? 
or ... a combination of it all?

For me crafts has very much to do with a combination of mastering hands, mind and tools. But what comes out – the design – is also important and – also when looking at the Crafts Council collection – these outcomes often relate to a certain time and are relevant for that time.
My selection presents a number of themes: Stools & Tools, Make & Shake.
These themes are illustrated with some items from the collection that are – for me – interesting and topical for design today and relevant beyond their time.

Stools: I was trained as a furniture designer at the RCA years ago and from that a pre-occupation with furniture can easily be justified. 
Tools: next to it find it fascinating that old tools are sometimes picked up to work with in another ways where new means of production make that there are new tools to master, even tools that can take over the work of hands. 
Make: however…. some tools can’t take over and if you realize the ingenuity and skills that some craftsmen master to create their design it impresses deeply (at least me).
Shake: last but not least a design can impact because it touches on issues and values that are impor-tant for our society. Often these were already explored by a creative avant-garde with crafted objects.

on the proposal for acquisition
As new item for the collection I suggest that the Crafts Council obtains one or more pieces of furniture from Mark Laban, a young British designer that graduated from Central St. Martins a few years ago. His rustic collection is made by cnc machines, but it radiates for me the ruralness and individuality of crafted furniture like the strawback-chairs from Orkney and the wicker chairs that bodgers used to work on in the woods in Buckinghamshire. They all need deep knowledge of the material and tools that are used and what the combination can do.
links:www.marklaban.comCraft Magazine Vimeo

Ineke Hans, January 2019