Inspiring, Innovative, Exciting – LCW Day 1 round up
Yesterday marked the first day of the inaugural London Craft Week, and our team was there to experience it first hand, here are their highlights.
Marieke
‘My day started at Vacheron Constantin, where I had the great pleasure of watching their master watchmakers at work, including Selynn Blanchet, who taught me how to carefully handle the tiny screws using tweezers and a screwdriver. Next stop was Mulberry on Bond Street, where there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air, as I saw hoardes of tourists walking the street clutching their LCW guides. Mulberry was buzzing, with a queue of people waiting to have a go at making their own persoanlised leather bracelets. I made one for everyone in the team! I jumped in a cab and headed over the Rachel Vosper, where we had a wonderful time making scented candles. I met Karen and Karen from David Collins Studio, who told me all about how their team were experiencing all the LCW events, and meeting up at the end of the day to share their experiences, inspirational. Karen says ‘You guys are doing great work for London Craft Week, and the studio is buzzing with excitement.’ I also met Matthew, who just handily happened to be a photographer, and bought his camera along to capture him making a candle for his daughter Ella Rose. He choose the Rose and Magnolia scent- very fitting’
Itala
‘Lock and Co’s event was really informative, I met their milliner Sylvia Fletcher, who explained the intricacies of hand stiching each hat, I loved the floral black hat with petals. Next up was Ormonde Jayne, where Linda Pilkington was on hand to greet her guests with Nyetimber and chocolates. Guests were sampling the scents, and passer bys were desperate to join in, but unfortunatly the event was fully booked! They all hopped into taxis and sped off to Ormonde Jaynes workshop, to start making their very own perfume. Linley’s event had a queue lining up outside, to see the live demonstartion of marquetry by Bethan Englefield. A Canadian couple had come over for 2 days just to attend London Craft Week, and were commisioning a piece at Linley.’
Luke
‘My role mainly involves coordinating all the social media activity, so I spent the day in the HQ receiving the teams images and hearing their stories, which really brought the event to life. Happily I was released from the PC in the afternoon to visit Nortons, Carre Ducker, Dashing Tweeds and Caroline Groves which were all busy with people and there was the feeling that somthing special happening at each venue. Speaking to caroline Groves she was really happy that her change of direction into bag making was getting a positive reception. One Cleeve case she had on display took 50 man hours alone just to do the gold tool. Dashing Tweed were in mid demonstration explaining the patterns used to produce different weaves. One lady was purchasing cloth from them, whilst the rest of the crowd watched in delight at the demo. At Nortons I got speaking to one of the
customers, a young lady who had been to loads of events already, and was trying to go to as many events as possible over the coming days. In the late afternoon I spent the time in Fenwicks Bond Sreet, where I reported live on a discussion between milliners Stephen Jones and Noel Stewart as they discussed the importance of hat making in the fashion industry and how as a milliner you need more tenacity and less ego than other designers. Stephen Jones also made the salient point of how hats are the most important accessory, as they do more to
affect mood and also frame your face than anything else. My final visit of the day was to take part in a twitter conversation during the Scents of Occasion event. Odette Toilette and Sarah McCartney played with their
audiences sense of smell, building up perfumes using ingrediants such as strawberry, orange and rose. We learnt some fasciating insights into the perfume industry such as 90% of perfumes are synthetic due to
availability of ingrediants. Everyone left with a lovely bottle of perfume.’
Mark
‘I spent most of the day at The New Craftsmen which had a big surge in visitors. The Courtesan’s bed is a masterpiece! Good reports from St James church and Floris where TNC are also running events. In the evening I headed to the Collect Preview (bravo for the Crafts Council!) which was buzzing. Then to Jonathan Reed’s
supper at Collect with Grant Gibson hosting a discussion – Sarah Myerscough, Corrine Julius, Sam Walton and others contributing to a lively and optimistic discussion.’
Vanessa
‘The Cockpit team had the chance to attend the opening evening private view at Collect to see some of our wonderful designer makers that are exhibiting there. I was so pleased to see Cockpit Arts’ jeweller Mariko Sumioka (exhibiting with Katie Jones Gallery) named as ‘Winner of Jewellery of the year’. As part of ‘Collect Open’ on the top floor – fantastic installations by Katrin Spranger and Rita Parniczky. Rita at last having the room to display her pieces so the scale and drama of her innovative weaving technique can be fully appreciated. Katrin’s conceptual ‘edible’ piece will be part of the gallery talks on Monday and will bring a whole new dimension to enjoying your jewellery.’
