Save the Date: The Craft Takeover at Mayfair Gallery

This month we are pleased to be collaborating with Cura Art and London Craft Week, curating a selection of contemporary works to be displayed alongside our historic collection in South Audley Street, with additional works online.

Running from 30 September to 10 October 2020, this 6^th annual London Craft Week festival brings together over 250 established and emerging makers to celebrate outstanding British and international creativity. Our innovative exhibition of contemporary works will reflect the festival’s appreciation of authenticity, skill and beauty, and represents our move towards showcasing exceptional artistic craftsmanship regardless of period.

Detail of Alice Walton’s Mori Mandi, 2018, demonstrating how traditional materials such as porcelain clay continue to hold relevance for contemporary craft makers.

The modern masterpieces in metal, glass, ceramic and furniture will sit beside our historic collection, allowing their technique, material and aesthetic approach to speak to a long history of quality craftsmanship.

Mayfair Gallery Director, Jamie Sinai, has envisaged the collaboration as ‘an exciting opportunity to be expanding our offering with contemporary works that are made employing both traditional and contemporary techniques, with a focus on quality of detailing and excellence in design.’

As a leading specialist in predominantly 19^th century and early 20^th century art and antiques, we have, for over 45 years, been dedicated to showcasing items of consistently high quality. With a historic collection inclusive of a variety of items from different periods, styles and geographical locations, the main focus has always been to exemplify the skill of the artisan responsible for each piece.

Highlighting how such skill transcends style or period, this exhibition will demonstrate the importance of creating dialogue and making connections between antique and contemporary crafts.

Rebecca de Quin’s Four Seasons Shot Cups, 2016, bring together exquisite materials of sterling silver, yellow gold, rose gold and rhodium gilding with expert handcraft techniques.

The exhibition will include established makers such as Rebecca de Quin, alongside the work of rising stars such as Nan Nan Liu and Alice Walton.

Alice’s ceramic work, which was recently featured on the cover of Crafts magazine, uses architecture and everyday street objects as its inspiration. Working with coloured porcelain clay, her experimental pieces explore surface textures and repetitive mark making through a slow and intricate process of handcraft.

Described by Crafts magazine as combining the ‘language of artistic abstraction with the handmaking skills of, say, Stoke’s porcelain flower-makers of yore’, her work makes a convincing argument for the continuing relevance of traditional techniques and materials today.

Handcrafted from coloured porcelain, Alice Walton’s magnificent Mirasi Lock, 2019, is inspired by organic patterns and traditional processes.

Vezzini and Chen combine hand-carved ceramics with blown glass to create sculptural lighting, vessels and installation pieces. Combining the functional, conceptual and decorative, their work is not out of place next to Mayfair Gallery’s fine collection of chandeliers and candelabra.

Vezzini and Chen’s Gem Light is made from furnace glass, porcelain and brass, combining functionality and conceptual artistic innovation.

Textile artist, Jo Barker, creates energetic abstract artworks through the ancient technique of hand-woven tapestry, using vibrant colours and taking inspiration from the transient movement of light and shadow.

Jo Barker’s handwoven tapestry, Fleeting Moment, 2019, captures the vibrancy of colour, movement and light through intricate and painstaking weaving processes.

All of the contemporary works on display connect a lineage of makers and traditional techniques, passed down through generations of craftspeople. Our exhibition will represent the diverse and innovative history of British and international creativity, bridging the gap between antique and contemporary craftsmanship to explore similarities and differences between old and new.

Ultimately, this collaboration with London Craft Week will promote the work of exceptional craftspeople and encourage an appreciation of great quality crafts regardless of style, period or maker.

Complimentary tickets can be booked on the London Craft Week website using the link below, and we look forward to welcoming you to the gallery to view the exhibition. (For those unable to visit in person, please stay tuned for exhibition highlights which will be posted online in due course.)