Craft a curious beetle

From bees to bugs...

If you’ve read our latest StyleCurious post on Anna Collette Hunt’s curious infestation, you may have been wondering about the app we mentioned. We’re pleased to inform you that the Stirring the Swarm iPhone or iPad app is now available to download free here:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/stirring-the-swarm/id499841767?ls=1&mt=8

The app was developed with funding Anna received from Made in the Middle. It features her original story alongside images of the first installation. There’s also a tour schedule, providing information on where you can see the Swarm exhibition. And the app also has a secret section, which can only be unlocked at the shows, to trigger interactive activity.


My favourite feature is the app’s “beetle builder activity, where users can create their own magical hybrid insects from mixing and matching ceramic body parts, combined with hand drawn elements which were part of the research for the project.” It’s great fun designing and naming your own insect, and uploading it to the online Facebook gallery. Anna hopes to use these insects to create a viral swarm - an online infestation to mirror the physical body of work.

Both the Stirring the Swarm ceramic installation and the new app will appear in an upcoming experimental exhibition at the National Craft and Design Centre, called Concrete Canvas, which is inspired by the online phenomenon of geocaching.





Meantime, an exclusive selection of Anna’s work is available at ShopCurious, including beetle brooches, insect trophies and boxed sets of ceramic curiosities. Each piece is a totally unique, handcrafted work of art – and also collectable as a memento of Anna’s award winning installation. Of course, you can always create your own souvenir (or even your own swarm) using the curiously cool beetle building app…

Will you?

Arty avian Christmas decorations

‘Arty’ and ‘avian’ may conjure up images of antique taxidermy, or curious contemporary craft creations, like this surreal seagull-through-the-wall installation by Joanna Bryan-Smith...














A reminder that birds are not always cute, or friendly – and they’re certainly not birdbrained, especially when it comes to getting food:

If you prefer birds that are decorative rather than dangerous, then check out the fabulous boxed sets of partridges, baby doves and snooty chicks at ShopCurious.

















Each pretty little bird has been lovingly handcrafted in wood - and hand painted too. They look great on the tree, but are also the perfect gift to take along to a Christmas house party. And you can rest assured they won’t gobble up your turkey, either.

















Will you?

Arty, attention-grabbing accessories

Last week’s unusually warm and sunny weather had me skipping out all over the place to arty events, hence the lack of blog posts. One of the more glamorous was a party at Sketch in Mayfair, to celebrate Shingai Shoniwa (of the Noisettes) and hatmaker Katherine Elizabeths’ new millinery collaboration.

One of the biggest hat trends is customization. Hats are being embellished with all sorts of curiosities and turned into works of wearable art. It’s fun to create your own millinery masterpiece too – in fact, Katherine Elizabeth holds hat parties and day-long millinery classes, at Craft Central in Clerkenwell. The next one is this Saturday 22nd.

Now the weather’s taken a wintry turn though, I feel more like hibernating. Forget going out to fashion tribe gatherings, all I want to do is sit in front of the television and cozy up to something soporific, like the X-Factor, with a nice mug of cocoa (Ha! That must account for the curious spelling in my latest post at The Dabbler…)

This morning it was actually cold enough to contemplate wearing gloves - which by the way, also seem to be getting an arty makeover this season. I’ve been waiting for ages to try out the luxuriously embroidered new gloves by eccentric Englishman Mark H at ShopCurious. Mark’s oddly extravagant OR WOT! designs are a small but valiant contribution towards saving niche handicrafts of the British manufacturing industry… Now I’ll raise a cup of cocoa to that.

Will you?

Weaving life's rich tapestry

Have you noticed how old fashioned handicrafts like needlepoint and lacemaking are coming back into vogue lately? I’ve spotted embroidery, crochet and patchwork everywhere from art galleries and craft fairs to niche boutiques and trend-setting chain stores.

Another curious trend is that tapestry is becoming rather popular, not just for wall-hangings, but also as fabric to cover furniture and cushions.






















The practice of weaving is said to be meditative as well as enjoyable, perhaps that’s why it’s become fashionable again recently? However, traditional weaving is not so much ‘make do and mend’ as DIY manufacture. There’s a real art to creating your own textiles – and don't even bank on saving money in the process…

Nevertheless, one way of cutting your coat to suit your cloth (sorry) is to purchase a second-hand loom. And, if you’re tempted to master this rustic craft, we may have just the thing at ShopCurious – a Glimakra Ideal weaving loom, which we’re selling for less than half the current market price.






















If you’re already skilled at producing your own unique, homespun creations (like Edward Taylor, whose handiwork can be seen above right), this could be a curiously useful purchase - or even an investment towards your future in sustainable design. If not, you can find some lovely vintage tapestries at specialist galleries, or antiques fairs (see above left).

By the way, any weavers reading this post are invited to share their work by adding a link in the comments below.

Will you?

Design art: making an impression

When writing a piece on 3D printing/computer generated design, I stumbled upon this quote in Michael Eden’s blog: “In an increasingly post-digital world, there is a move towards a pre-industrial landscape. Eased by global connectivity, cottage industries are sprouting up everywhere. People are creating their own products, services, and art. They are rediscovering the satisfaction of creating a tangible product, the process of making, the lessons from making by hand.”

The skilled workmanship and practical benefits of artisan crafts are becoming ever more appreciated – which is great for students about to graduate from the Royal College of Art (as illustrated in my post at The Dabbler). ShopCurious notes that the traditional snobbery surrounding art versus craft is coming under closer scrutiny too.





I wouldn’t describe myself as a designer-maker, but, I did have a go at a spot of DIY design when I contributed towards Lulu Guinness’ Be a Pin Up installation at Clerkenwell Design Week. Participative art has become a popular means of promotion for arts organizations and retailers.

In this case, the tools on offer consisted of a giant slab of metal pins that could be moulded into a shape by pressing your body against it – effectively creating a human sculpture. First I observed the technique, watching a couple of chaps do their curiously creative thing (above and left).





Then I had my own attempt. Initially a straightforward full body replica - though I didn’t appear to have any hips, and there was a large hole in my chest…

I’d really wanted to create something a little more original, so I raised one leg up as high as it would stretch and shoved my foot into the pins. I certainly created a very curious impression (see below), sustaining a bruised and bleeding shin in the process.

I was too shy to submit my feeble efforts to Lulu's contest, but it just goes to show that anyone and everyone can be a conceptual artist.






These days, 'design art' is as much about making an impression as the quality of the work itself. If you’re an aspiring artist, as in the music and film industries, you should be prepared to bare your soul in order to gain recognition…

In future, what may become more important is creating something useful. Perhaps this accounts for the burgeoning number of craft workshops and websites – and the emergence of DIY design? But a word of warning: don’t expect your handiwork to look perfect.

Will you?

Castaway couture, or wot?

Entrepreneurs, senior executives and trade bodies representing the luxury goods industry will meet in Barcelona tomorrow for the 12th Annual Prestige Brands Meeting.

Europe has always been considered the main producer and market for premium products, with European brands accounting for around 75% (approx. $229 billion) of the global luxury market, according to figures from the Boston Consulting Group.

However, the Financial Times reports serious concern regarding the erosion of specialist skills such as dressmaking, watchmaking and perfume creation in the European luxury goods sector, combined with a shift in production to emerging markets in Asia and eastern Europe.




Guy Salter, deputy chairman of Walpole, the British Luxury alliance claims that “All young people want to be designers and very few, makers." He says, "We want to try and change that by promoting craftsmanship in the luxury sector" adding, by way of example, "only a handful of small manufacturers in the UK are now making bags and leather accessories, compared to over a hundred factories only fifty years ago."



Some brave souls are already taking their own action to help preserve traditional skills and crafts for posterity, amidst a rapidly changing global marketplace. StyleCurious featured Mark H, a personal victim of UK manufacturing's demise, has made it his mission to turn adversity to advantage in a bid to save British craftsmanship from extinction.

Mark says, “There are still people alive, but only just, who remember England as the Workshop of the World, making everything from corsets to a silver condiment train for the Maharaja of Jaipur.” He adds, “We were busy making things: inventing, tweaking, fumbling, making fools of ourselves – the world’s eccentrics – in garages and small workshops all over this green and pleasant land. To achieve a Royal Warrant to supply members of the British royal family was a licence to export products to every part of the globe.”





In order to help prevent the UK’s industrial heritage from being totally “squandered”, Mark decided to establish his own curiously eccentric new luxury brand called OR WOT! to capitalize on ‘the finest components, skills and crafts that England can muster.”







The story behind OR WOT's ‘Castaway Couture’ collection is highly symbolic. Mark imagined the only survivor from a luxury British cruise ship, marooned on a desert island. Key pieces in the collection are inspired by the survivor's luggage, together with flotsam and jetsam from the shipwreck and the animal and reptile life on the island.












An eclectic range of handcrafted luxuries for him and her, plus a selection of beautifully handmade curious gifts and things for the home by OR WOT! is now available exclusively at ShopCurious.







Each product is made in England, has its own tale to tell and is intended to be a family heirloom that will last for generations to come. What’s more, the skill and craft involved in the making of every single item will be passed on to future generations too.

Curiously crazy, curiously clever, OR WOT?

I'm curious to know what you think.


Do you?