British Craft: Miami Edit 2017

Standing out amongst the rest at the first edition of Form Miami – a new applied arts fair – was this year’s British Craft: The Miami Edit (6-10 December). Presented by cultural authority Crafts Council UK and commercial platform The New Craftsmen, the showcase brought together ten of the country’s top makers. The selection presented a wide range of topics, techniques, and tinges; revealing the dynamic scope of contemporary and experimental craft application today.

A far cry from the prescribed hobby kit one spends a Sunday afternoon assembling, British Craft: The Miami Edit revealed how the discipline is able to push the envelope of material and form; to experiment with new expressive concepts. Highlights at this year’s showcase included Anna Ray‘s Bloom wall tapestry that reveals the craftsperson’s exploration of different found materials; manifest in cut, wrapped, stitched, stained and textured combinations.

Lauren Nauman’s 30 Black and White vessels test the limits of constructed clay. The suggested containers are built with straight lines. Fired in a kiln, the works naturally begin to emulate the fluidity of textile fibre. Last but certainly not least were Leah Jensen‘s Four Scenes from the Early Life of Saint Zenobius carved ceramics. A historically-inspired collection of mathematically rendered porcelain vases, the craftperson’s pieces demonstrate multiple levels of mastery. Jensen begins by covering clay forms in print outs of Renaissance paintings, and literally pin-points moments of significance. From there, she uncovers and maps out a geometric schematic that is carved out in relief. Each work demonstrates a deeply personal narrative yet universal exploration of physical and metaphoric intersection, an unexpected ode to weaving as the primal prototypical medium.