Craftspace

Our Learning & Engagement Manager had a great day at New Designers in Islington yesterday, and saw a wealth of inspirational new graduate talent from across the UK. Here are some of her highlights:

1. GSA Textile Design graduate Kirsten Harper kirsten harper 🪰 presents ‘Heirlooms’, an exquisite collection of hand embroidery work on preloved garments, incorporating unusual found objects and inspired by ideas of the historical relic and the archive.

2 & 3. Manchester School of Art Fine Art graduate makes work connecting us back to the land, material origins and hand made processes, encouraging us to think about how things are made. Her swinging wool picker ‘Lyra’ is a functional sculpture, used for processing wool before carding and spinning, and is named after a pet rabbit that turned vicious.

4. Product, Furniture, Ceramics at University of Staffordshire graduate Zobiya Asif’s ‘Char Ki Kursi’ combines functional furniture design with storytelling, culture and community. The piece reflects her experience as a British Pakistani and blends traditional Pakistani influences with Western furniture aesthetics. A piece for gathering around, it transforms into a giant Ludo game.

5 & 6. University of Brighton .design.and.craft graduate piece ‘Beyond Time’, is a bold, ambitious and dynamic ceramic, kinetic sculpture. Made from 200 handmade ceramic tiles, the piece explores presence, experience and concepts of time through sound and movement.

7 & 8. graduate Sarah MacLeman .art explores personal identity, specifically in relation to place and the history that can be traced through facial features and familial likeness. The back of her brooches is as beautiful as the front - the back of this brooch features a tiny photo of her granny.

9 & 10. graduate Ellie Gummery has made a ceramic tea set - ‘Community’ - that draws parallels between ecological systems and human communities. Each component has its own woodland inspired characteristics, collectively working together to facilitate social connections inspired by nature’s example.

We're really pleased to hear that these great community notice boards have found a home at Birmingham Butch Bar.

They were created as part of our Making For Climate Change project by our friends at LGBT+ Nature Connect working with artists Annie Higgins and Serenity Mason

Together we explored how craft could be used to enable action to address the climate emergency.

The group identified that social media carries a hidden environmental cost and isn’t always a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community. By creating physical noticeboards they have started their own independent social network, a space to share ideas, opportunities and connect.

Pop along to 's monthly sessions celebrating butch, d**e, transmasc and gender non-conforming people in Birmingham to see the boards in action.

LGBT+ Nature Connect offers guided walks, lessons about nature and social activities in the Birmingham area. LGBT+ folk and allies welcome

Thanks to the Energy Saving Trust Foundation for their funding which supported this work.