“Our passion at the
  Crafts Council is to
  position the UK as the
  best place in the world
  for the making, seeing
  and collecting of
  contemporary craft.”

  — Joanna Foster, CBE, Chair,
  The Crafts Council

'ORIGIN', THE LONDON CRAFT FAIR, was formerly known as the Chelsea Craft Fair. This is the second year for the Fair
at its Somerset House venue and the new location is more spacious and light, which gives both the exhibitors and visitors a better chance to chat and see the exhibits. It is also a great opportunity to make direct contact with the craftsmen from all over the country and meet old friends from both the 'Art in Action' and the Goldsmiths' Hall fairs.

The Fair is run over two weeks (2-14 October) and whatever your interest — glass, ceramics, jewellery, metal, furniture or textiles; most with an original and contemporary twist — there is always much to appeal.



Furniture
I always admire someone who has been established in a highly-demanding job that has taken years of hard work to achieve who drops it all to change direction and train in a new discipline. Tjeerd Hendel-Blackford (pronounced 'Cheert') was a highly- qualified lawyer working in Brussels who decided that the life was simply not for him. Today Tjeerd is thriving in his new creative lifestyle after finding his calling as a designer-maker of fine contemporary furniture.

Tjeerd made the step into self-employment in January 2006, and Hendel-Blackford Fine Furniture was born (www.hendel-blackford.
com). Tjeerd aims to provide his clients with a unique purchasing experience that is personal, enjoyable and involved. His furniture is certainly unique and timeless in terms of design and quality. In addition, he is very keen to protect natural resources wherever possible and endeavours only to obtain timber from approved merchants. As a brilliant, "green" idea he provides each of his clients with a tree sapling (or plants a tree) for every piece of furniture commissioned.

Jewellery
I have been keeping Sarah Hutchison (www.sarah
hutchison.co.uk) in reserve as she was exhibiting during the first week of the Goldsmiths' Fair and her jewellery always catches my eye. Sarah's work encompasses both silversmithing and jewellery and she combines large areas of silver with scattered details of gold, stones and pearls. Her textures are absolutely lovely, particularly her tipped earrings with a pearl in the centre. Any woman of any age could wear them.

Metal
It is really pleasing that many craftsmen today appear to be the custodians of tomorrow without making a song and dance about it. Claire Malet (www.claire
malet.com) transforms humble everyday materials into decorative and intriguing objects by recycling discarded steel and copper containers into seemingly delicate, sometimes almost transparent forms. Each vessel is gilded with real gold leaf which results in luminous forms to delight the viewer. All very hard to describe but quite amazing to behold.

Rebecca Gouldson (www.rebeccagouldson.co.uk) is another metalsmith but she uses techniques more traditionally used by printmakers to create terrific wall pieces. Very modern and perhaps not to everyone's taste her works are, however, perfect for today's minimalistic approach.



There were many other wonderful metal workers producing fun and innovative creations. Some of these I am keeping for the Christmas present list we hope to do later this year — so watch this space!



Textiles
It never ceases to surprise and delight me how clever people are with textiles. Nawal Gebreel (www.gebreel.com) specialises in fabric manipulation and print. She sells her work in Paris, New York, Japan and Britain in galleries, boutiques and craft fairs around the world. Nawal employs sumptuous fabrics and colours to luxurious effect using Japanese Shibori and paper folding. I don't think there could be anyone who wouldn't be absolutely delighted to receive and wear one of her scarves — if you could describe these fabulous pieces as something so mundane.

With work from over 300 selected makers on show at Origin, there is only room here to highlight a handful. However, although there really is no substitute for actually seeing and holding these items in your own hand, if you weren't able to make it to this year's Fair, you can still visit the Fair's website at www.craftscouncil.org.uk/origin. — Bonnie Stevens

SOMERSET HOUSE TRUST was established in 1997 to maintain and conserve this important element of the nation's heritage while also bringing the spaces alive with surprising and original events. Why not explore Somerset House and discover Old Masters and Impressionist paintings while at one of the exhibitions held at this imressive venue.

"Our aim is to reinvigorate Somerset House as a cultural des-tination where people can experience a broad range of artistic activity and contribute to a genuinely creative forum."
— Gwyn Miles, Director, Somerset House Trust

www.somersethouse.org.uk | www.craftscouncil.org.uk

---