Last week marked the 20th opening of Collect to the public, the premier international craft and design fair in the UK where artists pioneer craft installations, challenge materials, and honor tradition while showcasing new forms in craft. Galleries presented their collections in rooms spanning two floors of Somerset House.
Founded by Craft Council in 2004, Collect is renowned for fostering collaborations with institutions. This year, Craft Council introduced 14 artists for Collect Open, a platform aimed at showcasing young talent to a broader audience. Among them were Andrea Spencer (glasswork), Divya Sharma (tapestry), Katrin Moye (ceramics), and Kye-Yeon Son (metalwork).
One notable partnership featured Han Collection gallery and Icheon Ceramic. Icheon, a small city near Seoul, South Korea, has held UNESCO City for Arts and Folk Art status since 2010. Home to around 400 studios, Icheon nurtures Korean ceramic artists who develop diverse art practices rooted in Korean ceramic tradition. Some of Icheon’s finest artists were introduced to London’s art and craft connoisseurs at the fair.
For those unable to attend Collect last week, London Cult has curated a selection of 10 emerging artists worth following in the future. Scroll down for our picks of the most captivating pieces by them.
Heechan Kim developed a unique creative process by combining traditional techniques based on a solid understanding of the physical properties of the humble material of wood. He began by exploring ways to bend thinly sliced wood while maintaining its general shape, drawing inspiration from traditional boat and canoe production techniques. Heechan Kim was shortlisted for the seventh edition of prestigious Loewe Foundation Craft Prize this year. He was also given Artist of the Fair Award by Collect. Represented at the fair by Charles Burnand Gallery. Price of the winning piece GBP 9,600
Emily’s ceramic practice transforms vessels thrown on the potter’s wheel into biomorphic sculptural forms that explore body perception, identity and sexuality. While rooted in the traditions of the pottery craft, Emily plays and experiments with thrown forms to create abstract body representation. Artist of Collect Open, presented by Arts Council.
Samuel Nnorom, born in Nigeria in 1990, is a multi-award-winning artist known for his abstract mural sculptures made of pre-loved Ankara fabric. Through sewing, tying and cutting, the rising artist creates intricate constellations of fabric-covered foam balls, hundreds of “bubbles” that symbolize our individual identities and the closed social structures in which our daily lives are wrapped in. Appearing in an illusion of perpetual motion, his mural sculptures act as catalysts of pareidolias: viewers may discern landscapes, urban structures, organic cells, or endless mazes – in all cases, something interwoven.
Presented by Galerie Revel. Prices GBP 7,000 – GBP 20,000
Born in Zimbabwe in 1992 and holding a degree in Postcolonial Culture and Global Policy from the University of Cape Town, Xanthe Somers is attuned to the colonial context that has marked her homeland. Drawing from her personal memories, the artist delves into Zimbabwe’s history to address (post)colonial tensions and reminiscences. Through her large-scale sculptures, Somers exposes the subtle, latent legacies of colonialism that persist in more or less overt ways in everyday life. In a bold and unapologetic style, her imposing sculptures reveal the intricate layers of memory, emphasizing the often-overlooked elements that play a pivotal role in comprehending our past and our collective identity.
Presented by Galerie Revel. Prices GBP 7,000 – GBP 10,000
The artist, Aurélie Mathigot, explores the world of imagery through two distinct disciplines, photography, and embroidery. On a flat and smooth surface, she creates depth and textural effects to express a new reality. Her astonishing work is somewhere between illusion and metaphor. Winner in 2012 of the City of Paris’ Grand Prix de la Création in the Métiers d’Art category, the artist also features in the permanent collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Presented by maison parisienne Price upon request
Artist Park Hong-Gu has been working with trees for 38 years. In the field of woodcraft, he has established his own field through free thinking and diverse expression techniques that cross the boundaries between art and craft. The vessels made of birch tree were presented at Collect by Han Collection.
The artist of Icheon Ceramic.
Prices GBP 3,000 – 4,000
Based on the technology and spirit of Korean traditional crafts the artist have been focusing on work that goes beyond simplicity and harmonizes flexibility and consciousness. Shing Wong-Dong works with form and irregular shapes creating objects that fuse tradition and modernity.
The artist of Icheon Ceramic. Presented by Han Collection
Prices GBP 2,000 – 4,000
Tessa’s sculptures appear curiously alive with movement. Adopting organic forms they look like sea creatures. You could collect just one or a few to make up a family of ceramic corals. The artist has been working with clay over 20 years. Her work was selected for the British Ceramic Biennial, she has also received an honorable mention at the Korean Gyeonggi Ceramic Biennale. At Collect Tessa Eastman was presented by a Beirut based gallery Pik’d. Prices GBP 800 – GBP 3,400.
Barnaby Ash and Dru Plumb is a creative duo from South Downs (England). Together they specialise in creation of distinctive and individual sculptural artworks through the craft of woodturning. Working with a single lighting struck oak from Healthfield in Sussex for their Collect Open debut they celebrate ancient and historical inspirations reinvented in the modern and playful visual language. Each object has a unique patination through the use of fire
