Open house, Open City

The Open House event has closed it's doors again this year. For those of you not familiar with the event, it has taken place every September across all the boroughs of London for the last 25 years. I discovered this year that it has become a global phenomena, stretching to other major cities such as New York and Tokyo.

 

Notable buildings, dwellings and other construction projects both large and small host tours and presentations for 1 weekend only to give visitors more insight into the history, architecture, construction and ethos of the space. Many of the places on the Open House trail are not usually open to the public, so the event encourages our natural curiosity to 'nose around' and gain an 'access all areas' pass!

What I think is wonderful about the event is it also provides the space to appreciate the diversity of buildings that make up our city, each has a special story to share and over just 1 weekend 1,000's of people are united in looking, listening and experiencing living history.

I decided to apply and put forward Fabrications new 'Imaginerium' craft space to be part of this year's event. The organisers came to visit and were keen for Fabrications to be on the Open House map. This year they were also encouraging hosts to put on 'late night' events to take place on the Saturday evening. After talking to my architects Eric Martin and Nikolai Delvendahl (DM Architects) we decided on hosting a good old fashioned slide show all about the making of the new space followed by a Q&A session with the team.

I decided to weave in some of my own buildings history into the slide show, pictures of the shop when I first discovered it in 1997. Back then the shop was in a bad state of disrepair and dilapidation as were a majority of shops on Broadway Market at that time. Preparing for the slide show and our daily tours (with myself and DM architects), made me realise the journey I have been on with the fabric of my shop building and how much I have achieved and improved. When I got the shop, the name on the front was "All Well" - Appliance Rescue Centre - a reoccurring theme in Fabrications story!!

For the tours and the slide show I wanted to promote the people and organisations that have contributed to creating the new space and my collaborative / community approach. One of these organisations is 'Out of the Dark' an inspirational social enterprise who "uncover the hidden potential of old furniture and young people by training and employing dissadvantaged youths to recycle and restore vintage furniture" (this quote came from a recent review of The Imaginerium by Inhabit ) Out of the Dark got stuck in with reworking old lock wood, fruit crates and a G Plan wardrobe to provide a kitchen and storage area for The Imaginerium. They also suggested curtaining across the front to hide workshop resources and a creative way to incorporate and showcase my own upcycled textile work.

On the previous weekend, for the London Design Festival, Out of the Dark ran a special workshop here 'Revamp your old furniture' which was so popular and well received, we've decided to run another workshop in December.

I really enjoyed being part of the Open House event. I was overwhelmed and really pleased by how many visitors came along and were captivated by The Imaginerium and our stories. I'm looking forward to participating next year!

The Barbican goes Downtown

This week Barbican Art Gallery new show presents Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown, Gordon Matta-Clark: Pioneers of the Downtown Scene, New York 1970s.

Performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson, choreographer Trisha Brown and artist Gordon Matta-Clark were friends and active participants in the New York art community, working fluidly between visual art and performance.

With the city as their backdrop, canvas, stage and inspiration, this exhibition is the first major presentation to examine the experimental and often daring approaches taken by these three key figures, both individually and collectively, in the burgeoning arts scene in downtown New York during the 1970s.

And now for my personal plug to pop into the gallery shop while you're there, You will find the full range of my 'Rethink Rubbish' craft kits and a selection of upcycled woven bicycle innertube cushions amonst other exhibition complimenting delights sourced by Andrea Toon, the shop's buyer.

Threads of Feeling

Foundling 10563
A heart cut from red woollen cloth, a ribbon of blue paduasoy silk and a piece of lenen diaper. 'The bit of red cloth enclosed was pinned to the childs cap.

Last night I went to an evening at the Foundling Museum which featured reflections on seperation and loss by Professor Sir Michael the curator Professor John Sykes. I hadn't heard or visited the Foundling Museum before until I read about their current exhibition in Selvedge Magazine. The exhibition features a collection of textile tokens left with abandoned children at the original Foundling hospital, which opened in 1741.
In 18th Century London many babies were abandoned in the streets, the Foundling Hospital offered hope to women and children who would have perished left to their own devices.
It was amazing to see the hospitals system of cataloging the babies on arrival, clothing, features, any special marks and the textile token offering a gateway to the parent to recognise and reclaim their child at a later date. Inspite of only 1% of children being reclaimed the hospital maintained their meticulous register without judgement.
The range of textile tokens is also interesting, demonstrating different classes, many with symbols of hope such as flowers, acorns and butterflies or symbolic weight such as knotted ribbon to denote the tie of the mother to the baby.
I highly recommend a visit to this special exhibition (on until 6th March 2011) and museum.