Tooled Up | Shoreditch Design Triangle

posted by Emma Fisher September 10, 2014

As part of the Shoreditch Design Triangle and the London Design Festival, Tooled Up is a group exhibition featuring a range of great international artists in a exhibition to celebrate creativity, craft and skill. The artists where asked to take one recognisable tool of craft and transform it into a unique form. Artists including Merijn Hos, Saskia Pomeroy, Daniel Eatock and many more, all whom have tackled the project with some very interesting results.

Every artist has approached the task is a unique way from adding elements to an existing objects, or translating the form to inspire print, film and sculpture.

1. Untitled – Merijn Hos,
Hacksaw, wood, emulsion and Styrofoam

“Spontaneous, first thought was a hacksaw standing up is a frame for a globe or a planet. A hacksaw saw cutting a planet in two, that is what I tried to capture.”

2. Duchess – Kustaa Saksi
Screwdriver, acrylic paint, jacquard weave (mohair wool, wool & cotton)

“The screwdriver had obvious feminine features with long sensual neck and sexy hips. I certainly wanted to create an eminent female character around it.

I wanted to attire her body with a thick, soft cape made out of wool. Together with Suvi Savola, we crafted the aristocrat dress with custom-made Jacquard weave.”

3. Untitled – Saskia Pomeroy
Toolbox and paint

“The tool has many sides and faces, and I wanted to do pattern, so I decided I wanted to use each face on the box for a different colour or pattern.

I think I just went crazy! I have drawn inspiration from Memphis style patterns used in combination with gradients and bright patterns found in nature.”

4. Untitled – Jenny Bowers
Screwdriver and gouache tube

“I had a pretty ordinary looking screwdriver, of really good quality. I couldn’t bring myself to do too much to it as its a cracking screwdriver, so I have repurposed it to make it into something that I need in my working life more than a screwdriver. I have simply re-appropriated it as a tool to squeeze the last bit of paint out of my gouache tubes. The shaft of the screwdriver has a handy flat bit the exact width of the tubes of paint that I use, so it seemed apt. I have sanded and oiled the handle to reflect its ‘new’ purpose. ”

5. Untitled – Marie O’Connor
Latch hook, wood, cork, polystyrene, clay, fabric and leather cord.

“A hook to capture or hang from was the starting point really. And the idea of ‘threading’ generally, or pulling threads through, to make loops was interesting. So, the loop or the circle became a form to play with; from beads, embroidery hoops, polka dots and wobbly jacquard-woven spots on fabric etc.

There was also the interest in making circular movements over round objects, so the process of wrapping in braid or rope, and ‘covering’, partially or completely, allowed me to bring in a considered range of materials. The wood was also an inspiration in that regard, and the materials and colour are quite neutral, with a bit of texture or quiet glamour thrown in to balance the dryness.

And I suppose each object has a relationship with what it’s attached to on either side. An embroidery hoop treaded through a type of scrunchie, attached to a squished but solid ball, is an attempt at thinking about composition in that way.”

The exhibition is open Mon – Fri: 11:00 – 18:30 and Sat 12:00 – 18:00, with a late night opening on Tues 16th until 21:00.
Art&Graft, G6 City Pavilion, 37 Cheshire Street, London, E2 6EA

http://artandgraft.com/blog/tooled-up