Widow by Susie MacMurray
V&A and Crafts Council have collaborated on a fantastic new exhibition, Power of Making. Weaving our way around a jam-packed exhibition space, BCA was thrilled to see such a diverse collection of objects and machines, from craft to product design to new technologies, including our friend Adrian Bowyer’s RepRap.
The exhibition dismisses a traditional linear structure, preferring to place seemingly disparate objects side by side, rather than track the history of craft or neatly separate the different mediums. By placing unlikely objects next to each other, curator Daniel Charny is able to emphasise how techniques employed or even makers’ motivations can connect these different industries.
We were curious to hear what people had to say about this celebration of tinkering, so we asked a few visitors as they were leaving the exhibition.* Alan Simon, a Design and Technology teacher, told us that there is far too much emphasis on academic subjects at school and that the UK is not keeping up with Germany in terms of teaching design at a young age. Shareen Sange, a fashion student, felt that the exhibition pointed her to a range of inspiring new techniques.
The images are of some of our favourites, but go see for yourselves! Power of Making is at the V&A until 2nd January 2012
*in case you were wondering, um no, we didn’t stand outside the exhibition with clipboards.
Shine by Geoffrey Mann
Rotationalmouldedshoe by Marloes ten Bhomer
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Hey was just looking through your blog and i think its great, thought id let you know about Talenthouse. Its a brilliant way to become recognised as an artist/photographer/designer.
At the moment Becks as a part of Talent house are looking to sponsor 1000 projects in art, design, photography, music or fashion.
Anyway check it out:
http://www.talenthouse.com/becks-design-for-the-green-box-project
hello. thank you for letting us know about Talent House, it looks really intriguing…
It’s interesting to see so many commercial brands supporting independent artists/designers; selfridges recently pointed us to their new space for artists to work instore. And there’s the Levi printspace we blogged about.
Hopefully this is a sign that companies see people dont just want to “buy” products anymore, they want to be part of a making/creative process…
Are you involved with the Becks project?