A new collection of contemporary work crafted by local designers is launching at the Heath Robinson Museum shop this April.
This Maker’s Art range showcases handcrafted textiles, jewellery, ceramics, and candles reflecting the imagination and enchantment of Heath Robinson’s work.
The makers, who mostly live locally, change every six months, creating a distinctive and continually varied decorative art marketplace at the Heath Robinson Museum and on their online shop.
Elsa hopes “that you will enjoy wearing my jewellery as much as I love making and creating it!”. Do come and see her very stylish range.
Elsa Gomez
This autumn saw the arrival of a range of work from Basque-born jeweller, Elsa Gomez her company, Brass and Bold, is based in East London. Elsa tells us, “I enjoy the visual arts, screen printing, product design and architecture. I love simplicity and honest materials.” Elsa began by tentatively selling one-off pieces in boutiques and cafes around London. The positive feedback and great response developed into a loyal following and collaborations with The Barbican and stockists across the UK who support independent and creative design.
Elsa designs and makes jewellery in a wide range of materials including brass, gold, silver, glass and semi-precious stones. At the museum you will find a colourful collection of earrings made from glass and brass in hues of golden amber, blush pink, purple and grey. There is also a selection of brass and semi-precious stone necklaces, fully adjustable bracelets and earrings. Choose from matt aventurine green or shiny black onyx.
“I want to make something that friends and people of my generation would like to buy and bring the craft back into the modern day. So, for my scarves, I buy the yarn from independent hand dyers in the UK. I am guided by their colour palettes, which they change constantly.”
–Vinca Brown
Vinca Brown
Vinca is the founder and maker of Loomiere Weaves.
Hackney-based Vinca says “Loomiere Weaves is all about colour, taking an ancient craft and giving it a modern twist. I like to let the colours do the talking. I create one-off handwoven scarves in vibrant, stunning colour combinations designed in modern patterns using vintage 4-shaft looms.
The mathematical nature of weaving is fascinating to me as well as the meditative feel the process gives me. I enjoy exploring the endless possibilities that the tonal range of hand dyed yarn gives me and the moods that I can create with them and so I source the wool for every scarf separately making them all one-off pieces to be treasured.
I spend my time between Hackney and Dungeness – both places are a continuous source of inspiration in my work.”
Vinca began weaving as a hobby attending short courses leading to a regular weekly class at The Handweavers Studio in Finsbury Park. During Lockdown weaving provided Vinca both relaxation and focus; production snowballed. Vinca did her first South East Open Studio in 2021 and has been selling and taking commissions ever since.
“[Heath Robinson’s] Noah’s Ark print was on my bedroom wall and my heart gave a little leap when I saw that same picture hanging in a café by the river last year.”
–Sarah Grove
Sarah Grove
Sarah makes a range of simple shaped but highly textured functional porcelain that combine a love of clay, textiles and the domestic interior with wit, warmth and curiosity. Her work involves many processes from creating the textile textures, making plaster casts of the textures and designing paper pattern templates to construct textured porcelain slabs into vessels designed to be used. She stitches, upholsters and quilts textures from sumptuous silks and crewelwork to more humble patchworks and has recently developed ‘drawing’ with machine and hand embroidery. The embroidered motifs incorporate ideas around ceramic and textile traditions, symbolism and storytelling such as the willow pattern, dragons, koi and cranes. With complex surfaces, the shapes remain simple and softly curved with a minimal pallet that also reflects porcelain traditions of the white fine porcelain, cobalt blue with gold or opal lustred details. As a nod to the comfort and domesticity of the work and adding a little fun, she now also has a range incorporating that most comforting, domestic and mundane items, biscuits.
Having moved to London to study ceramics, graduating from Camberwell College of Arts and setting up her studio in 2000, Sarah has sold work at many prestigious craft and art fairs and exhibited in galleries across the U.K, Channel Islands and Europe, including the Victoria and Albert Museum shop.
“I am thrilled to be represented at the Heath Robinson Museum as part of the Maker’s Art section. As a child I was delighted by the detail and humour of his contraption drawings and felt that maybe any idea was possible to make if you set your mind to it. I still invoke his name if I attempt mending something in a way that I believe to be ingenious!”
www.sarahgrove.co.uk
Photo credit: Sarah Grove
Georgina Starnowski
Having been creative from an early age, two years ago I started making candles and, while it was initially a hobby, it has become almost literally a ‘burning passion’!
My inspiration came from spending time in nature with my cocker spaniel, Bella Mae. Walking with her every day, I visited so many different local areas and experienced so many beautifully evocative flower and plant fragrances through the seasons. This got me thinking about which fragrances could work well together and I started creating my own range of hand-poured candles, named after Bella Mae.
I create 100% natural soy wax candles which have eco-friendly wicks, use natural vegan fragrance oils and are all hand-poured by me at my home. I have test-burned them all myself and have spent over a year achieving the best combination of burn time and speed. I really enjoy blending unusual and classic fragrances. I make some as stylish or amusing moulded shapes, and a complete range in beautiful (and reusable) tins and jars.
I grew up in Pinner and have lived here all my life, I have worked with Richard Trusselle Jewellers in Pinner High Street for the last 13 years and am so delighted that Heath Robinson Museum has created such an excellent cultural and artistic hub in Pinner’s beautiful Memorial Park.
Having Bella Maes candles included in The Maker’s Art collection at the Museum shop is an absolute honour.
Photo credit: Michael Lenny
