"Festif" @ Galerie Caractere

I am delighted to be part of "Festif", a special exhibition at Galerie Caractère to celebrate 15 years of the gallery.

"39 artistes et leurs créations originales y participent avec panache: liliana alves...marianne anselin...isabelle azaïs...gema barrera...ela bauer...anaïs beard...edith bellod...sophie bouduban...julie bouldoires...chao & eero... nelly chemin...pascal cretin...nicole de halleux...valentine dubois...michèle froidevaux...maria goti...ana hagopian...bruna hauert...joanne haywood...florence jaquet...nicole jaquet henry...sophie juriens...aline kokinopoulos...mia kwon...chloé laederach...léo by léo...jenny llewellyn...maä...ineke otte...capucine parel...ramón puig...fabienne schaller...caroline soldevila...karola torkos...violaine ulmer...thomas v. ...guillemette vulin...yasmin yahya"

Here are two of the pieces from the show. Culpeper Neckpiece and Herne Neckpiece, both from the Plant Hunter Series.

Happy Anniversary Galerie Caractère and thanks for inviting me to be a part of the celebrations!

Spotlight on: Konstantinos Karanikas

Konstantinos Karanikas is another one of our Emerging Makers Alumni at City Lit. Graduating last year from the scheme he has been exhibiting and working on a number of new collections and projects

Konstantinos will be exhibiting at Made Brighton this coming weekend 20th -22nd November and will then be taking part in the Festive Craft Fair at the Bedford in Balham on 13th December. The event is organised by The Haven who are fundraising for a breast cancer support charity.

Kos is also stocking Gill Wing Gallery and works part time at Cox and Power in both the workshop and store. It makes me very happy to see another one of our alumni students doing so well and forging a career in the jewellery industry.

Am looking forward to his new collection "Fragments of Earth" released in spring summer 2016.

Check out his website...and see more of his work on his Facebook page.

Book of Love: by Mi-Mi Moscow

Mi-Mi Moscow is formed of two jewellery artists; Mila Kalnitskaya & Micha Maslennikov. Recently they very kindly sent me a copy of their book "Book of Love". I wanted to share with you some of the pages and details inside. It is a book that covers many years of work, with some entries from 2001 up to 2010 and one piece from 1994, so it was really interesting to see the different projects they had been working on in more detail and how their work has evolved over more than a decade.

Dispersed throughout the book are some beautiful line illustrations with text to accompany them. They are as whimsical, sinister and joyful as their jewellery objects and they made the anthology of works unusual and engaging. The whole book was designed and produced by the two artists and you can see that it was a real labour of love.

You can see more of their works via their website, or Klimt02 page. You can also buy your own copy of their book via their site.

Many thanks to Mila & Micha for sending me a copy of the book and good luck with all your future projects.

Spotlight on: Marion L

Working in a bronze foundry for a number of years as well as several metal and restoration studios has given Marion L a multi disciplinary skill base for her move into Jewellery design. You can see how her love of patination and surface texture from her years as a sculptor has spilled over into her jewellery practise.

Marion Lebouteiller is also one of our Jewellery Alumni from our structured jewellery courses at City Lit. It's great to see so many of them from over the last 4 years+ doing so well for themselves in industry, I like to share their successes when I can.

Marion L says about herself..."I am an emerging French jeweller who now lives and works in England. The pieces I make are born out of my fascination for materials and colours. My background as a chaser and patinateur on bronze sculptures influences deeply my approach to contemporary art jewellery."

"Whilst combining silver and bronze I allude to the natural and the cultural worlds and highlight contrasts of colours, textures, concept of full and void… I am inspired by my surroundings and by the Japanese culture and the « Wabi-Sabi » philosophy: the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete".

Here are some images from her collections, including piece from: Infinite, Lichen, Twist and Gravity...

Marion L has a number of events and shows coming up before christmas.

Sleight of Hand Touring Exhibition - the Brewhouse, Burton upon Trent, UK - 1/28 September - the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, UK - 7/31 October - Plymouth College of Art Gallery - Plymouth, UK - 16 November/12 December​ 10 Days Winchester, Chalk - Winchester, UK - 10 October/7 November

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair- Manchester, UK - 8/11 October

SIT Select showcase- Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK - 23/25 October

Made by Hand- Cardiff, Wales, UK - 30 October/1 November

Made Brighton - Brighton, UK - 19/22 November

Marion L's sketchbook pages are as beautiful as her finished pieces...

Go give her Facebook page a like...here

Autumn In Bedgebury

This afternoon I took a trip over to Bedgebury Pinetum, one of my favourite local places, which actually has redwood trees! I find it so amazing they have these exotic trees in Kent and it always makes me think of the film Vertigo! I was in the Natural History museum a few weeks back and saw the giant slice of redwood tree which reminded me I had not been to begdgebury in ages.

Over the Summer there was a photography exhibition at Bedgebury, which I unfortunately missed, but they still had some of the images on display in the woodland. They looked quite surreal as the images were taken in woodland in Cambodia, but were shown alongside the trees of Bedgebury. One in particular I really loved was of a Monk sitting in the forest. It was very striking and peaceful. The brilliant orange of his robes looked amazing against the pine trees and autumnal leaves. It was at Magic Hour too, so the light made it look very special

"Guardians of the Areng Valley is a major new outdoor photography exhibition by internationally acclaimed photographer Luke Duggleby. 30 spectacular large scale colour photographs, which present Duggleby’s journey into the remote Cardamom Forest of Southwest Cambodia will be displayed amongst the trees in the National Pinetum, one of the largest and most complete collections of conifers in the world."

"The photographs focus on the rapid forest destruction which threatens critically endangered species and indigenous forest communities. They also shine a light on a growing environmental movement pioneered by Buddhist Monks to raise awareness and help communities fight against further destruction of these critically important forest eco-systems."

Here are some images of things which caught my eye. Love this place!