listings

Category: Earth

The once monthly, now seasonally, Of Cabbages & Kings Market Days makes a welcome return to Abney Hall for their Autumn/Winter dates. Now in it's 6th year, this October they will be showcasing familiar local designers and makers alongside some fresh new talent!

The first market of the season will be on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October from 10am until 5pm, entry is free. You will find a host of hand-picked makers selling some of the best art, fashion, prints, gifts, textiles and product design in London town. Both days offer up a wide variety of handmade stalls, including ceramics, textiles, jewellery, illustrations, homewares, designer products for children and much more. If all that browsing and shopping makes you hungry, no need to worry because local bakers Yolk will be taking over the cafe area and serving up a tasty selection of cakes, tarts and savoury snacks. To whet your appetite, here is an introduction to 6 designer/makers: Waffle Design, Parasite Ceramics, Alfred & Wilde, Scout and Co, Promises Promises and Mister Peebles.

Alfred & Wilde is an East-London based design brand producing bold, typographic art prints, stationery and homewares, inspired by the city, using traditional printing techniques, and proudly made in the UK. Alfred & Wilde designs have a playful focus on pattern, shape and colour, reflecting well known places and spaces. Founded by designer Simon Mitchell in 2013, Alfred & Wilde designs can be found in design stores across East London.

Mister Peebles is an old fashioned gent. He likes nothing more than a strong tea, a digestive and sitting down to draw himself some animal companions. They are company for this mostly solitary gentleman on voyages near and far. He hopes they can keep you company too.
Everything is designed and drawn in Stoke Newington using watercolour pencils, pens and some ideas picked up at the zoo.

Parasite Ceramics is an East London based practice founded by Simeon Featherstone & Anastasia Sledkova. Whether it’s site specific art pieces or products, they specialise in telling stories mainly through the medium of ceramics and as the name would suggest. Their tableware reflects the wonderfully varied surroundings in which they work, whether it is industrial London, suburban Surrey, historic Edinburgh or beautifully romantic Dorchester. Every product offers a visual commentary to past projects and events, to a revealed history, and to the people and places that inform them.




Specialising in graphic, mixed material jewellery and leather based accessories, Promises Promises combines fashion aesthetics with craft philosophy to create truly individual pieces. The collection is inspired by the place where we meet nature, the edge is a war ground where a constant reinterpretation takes place by each side of the other. Drawing on the Essex seaside, Structuralist crockery, utopian factories and Victorian nature illustration, shapes fight in natural and modern materials and techniques creating a crafted collection with a determinedly modern sensibility. Founded in 2012, Promises Promises is a labour of love by designer Victoria Myatt following a six year apprenticeship with a luxury accessory label.

Scout & Co is all about design for kids you love. They are an online shop based in Stoke Newington, selling a carefully curated range of beautifully designed products that both children and adults love. As well as supporting small designer/makers, The Scout and Co collective also produce line of prints (décor that’s just as at home in your living room as a nursery), creative toys including handmade wooden toy cameras, colouring in posters, handmade crayons, quirky stuffed toys and wooden robots, unisex clothes and accessories up to age five including T-shirts, tights and baby socks and beautiful books by exciting new illustrators.

Waffle is a fresh range of organic cotton interior home accessories, made using a tactile 'waffle' weave. Each piece is individually hand embroidered in East London giving the signature pops of colour throughout . Cushions and throws are stocked in TOAST, Skandium, Folklore and online with Clippings and FAO. Waffle has recently produced a range of gift products at accessible price points such as slippers and zip pouches, specifically designed with Christmas fairs in mind.

Opening times: 10am – 5pm, Free Entry

Category: Art

Now in it’s fifth year Moniker Art Fair has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting, international contemporary art fairs. It has grown significantly since 2010 both in terms of audience and relevance- the fair attracts more than 12,000 visitors over its’ four day duration. Held from 16–19 October during London’s busiest arts and culture week, Moniker Art Fair spotlight emerging and established talent, celebrating a generation of artists at the forefront of a unique contemporary art movement. The fair attracts some of the most talked about artists, galleries and collectors from the finer side of the street art movement and its related subcultures.

Art Wars: Mr Brainwash, Campbell's Condensed Trooper Spray

Art Below founder Ben Moore has created Art Wars, an exhibition of Stormtrooper helmets. These helmets have been left at the mercy of artists such as Damien Hirst, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Mr Brainwash, D*Face and Joana Vasconcelos. Proceeds from the Art Wars exhibition and auction go to the ‘Missing Tom’ fund, which as started to raise money to support the search for Thomas Moore, Ben’s brother.

This year Art Wars Moniker has been specially curated by Ben to fulfill the ‘urban vibe’ that is epitomized in the Moniker Art Fair. 10 new artists, including Inkie, RYCA, Joe Rush, Elmo Hood and Craig Davidson, have transformed the helmets into artworks that will be displayed on plinths. On the walls there will be a selection of works including signed prints of Art Wars helmets by artists including D*Face, Jake and Dinos Chapman and Hayden Keys. All the new helmet works in the show will be on billboard display at Regent’s Park tube station throughout October to coincide with Frieze, when thousands of art lovers will walk through the station.

Charming Baker, Love is never putting all your eggs into one bastard

Jealous Gallery have taken on an extra space this year, dedicating it entirely to the rare and unique editions and proofs of the work of acclaimed artist Charming Baker. After graduating from Central Saint Martins, Baker started exhibiting solo shows at Truman Brewery and the Redchurch Street Gallery. In 2012, a sculpture entitled Triumph in the Face of Absurdity was displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The piece was a collaboration for the 2012 Olympics between Baker and Sir Paul Smith.

Begoña Toledo, Devine Box

Begoña Toledo (a.k.a Boxhead) is a Spanish artist living and working in London. Urbanism, architecture and our emotional responses to consumer culture are the inspirationsfor her work.Toledo created the character Boxhead in 2009. The character is always depicted with a box placed over herhead and is intended to embody all of us universally. For Moniker Art Fair the artist gives the public a closer insight into the world of Boxhead. Boxhead’s cardboard mask will be translated into a life-size installation, allowing the audience to become the character whilst seeing the world through the colourful prism of Boxhead’s perspective.

You can read my review of the 2013 Moniker Art Fair here.

Opening times:
Thursday 16 October | 5pm–9.30pm (Private View)
Friday 17 October | 11am–7pm
Saturday 18 October | 11am–7pm
Sunday 19 October | 11am –6pm

Category: Earth

The Crafty Fox Market is back for the Autumn edition on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 October at the Dogstar, Brixton. A hand-picked selection of 100 different traders will be setting up shop (50+ per day), selling a unique range of handmade and locally designed wares. Katie Treggiden from Confessions of a Design Geek was guest curator, helping to select traders from the hundreds of entrants.

Spread over three floors, guests can shop with a beer in hand or visit the tea-room for a cake and cuppa. Drop in workshops include jewellery making with Lucie Ellen, screen-printing with Mr Wingate and Day of the Dead brooches with The Sewcial Circle.

Jenny Sibthrop.

Betzzy.

Kate Illes.

Visit the top floor and discover fresh talent at Crafty Fox Uncovered– showcasing traders who are new to selling their work. Look out for handmade aprons and bags from Larklin, bold patterns by Jenny Sibthorp, screen-printed cushions from Bettzy and intriguing boxes of treasure from Kate lles.

Opening times: 11am-5pm
Entry is free and children are welcome. You can find the traders taking part on Saturday 4 October here and Sunday 5 October here.

Category: Art

One of the UK’s most celebrated photographers is unveiling a unique collection of images depicting the eating habits of Britain in collaboration with leading food brand Birds Eye. Martin Parr, who has been documenting real people doing everyday things for more than 22 years, was commissioned by Birds Eye to produce a unique snapshot of what makes up the typical, modern mealtime in Britain.

The exhibition entitled ‘A Birds Eye View’ features 30 brand new photographs depicting Parr’s four-month tour of the nation capturing every day mealtimes in regions including Kent, Cornwall, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Merseyside, London and Birmingham. The resulting photography displays a unique insight into a variety of meal occasions shared amongst friends and families. The moments captured include a group of young professionals sharing a midweek meal with a friend over Skype, a family eating a laid-back dinner in front of the TV and a household enjoying a traditional Indian curry.

The initiative by Birds Eye, which aims to celebrate mealtimes and the important role they play in people’s lives, follows the ‘Big Mealtime Audit’, a study exploring the way in which real people eat and interact with one another over food1. The findings found that one in five Brits (20 per cent) are eating as much as eleven times a day and spend on average just 25 minutes around the dinner table.

CAMPING STEAM PIC (at top)
Lyn Pollard washes greens in preparation for a stew outside her tent at the Port Eliot festival in Cornwall. Camping and preparing food outdoors are two long-standing British traditions. In this case Lyn is cooking for her daughter and her girlfriends on a camping trip to celebrate her daughter’s hen-do. The stew is based on her own special recipe, combining fresh local ingredients, slowly cooking whilst they enjoy the festival events at Port Eliot.

FAMILY EATING CURRY
Hansa Patel kneads traditional dough in her kitchen in Walsall, West Midlands. This dough is the base for many types of bread that she always serves with dinner. Her family likes to eat together, sharing classic homemade curries made with fresh ingredients and spices. Although served with a modern twist, Hansa likes to stay true to eastern cuisine traditions and recipes.

FAMILY TV DINNER
Pete Nicholls, his wife Rachel, and their children, Maya and Kai, enjoy their dinner of pies, mash and peas at home in Bristol. They are a family that likes to share their dinnertimes together, sometimes at the table, but also on the sofa watching TV. They enjoy great tasting food that is easy to prepare, going mainly for British classics, especially pies and mushy peas. Pete and his family explore different types of cuisine and always enjoy wholesome food together; mealtimes provide important moments for the family.

COUPLE TV DINNER
Sarah Dransfield serves a curry for her and her boyfriend at her home in Oxford. They are both working professionals and know how difficult it can be to make time to cook and share meals together. Sarah likes cooking good wholesome food, especially curries and stews, and makes them in advance so she can share a nice meal with her boyfriend during the week, without too much lengthy preparation. They like having dinner together, but are more relaxed and often share it while they watch TV and have a quick catch-up about their day.

Opening times: 9am – 9pm

Category: Art

Rambha is Avenged by Sharanya Kunnath.

Peek is an Illustration show put together by the 2014 MA Illustration students from Arts University Bournemouth. The show features the work of 7 different artists, with each artist hailing from a different place. Each student came to the course with different skill sets, which have evolved and changed over the year, in some cases quite radically. Peek is a means of celebrating and showcasing what has been achieved during the time in Bournemouth, both in terms of work produced and skills developed. The participating artists are Donna Jean Peters (America), Loren LeBlanc (America), Maria Naydenova (Russia), Marta Vives Poch (Spain), Sharanya Kunnath (India), Tori (Saudi Arabia) and Yvonne Lee (United Kingdom). The work displayed is as diverse as the places the artists come from, with paper cutting, 3D sculpting and printing, digital illustration, screenprinting, alongside other forms of traditional illustration such as ink and watercolour. The differences bring about an exciting juxtaposition between the various visual styles and mediums, highlighting the sheer range and scope of contemporary illustation.

Sharanya Kunnath's work centres around spirituality. Her MA project is an illustrated retelling of Mahishasura Mardini, the story of the Hindu Goddess Durga. The story centres around the battle between good and evil as a metaphor for the battle between the higher self and the unsettled mind, and the unfortunate end that comes to a man who underestimates women.

The premise of Loren LeBlanc's work is “Discover what illustration could be, not what it has been.” His experimental digital illustration project, Explorenart, is an impassioned investigation into the visual potential of digital sculpture as a medium. Fusing various state-of-the-art digital techniques including 3D modeling, compositing and databending, he has produced an innovative body of work; equal parts nostalgic and fresh, resonating vibrantly with the eyes of the digital age.

Bird Cubes by Donna Jean Peters.

Donna Peters' work focuses on birds. She has become a Twitcher, or bird watcher. After researching and observing birds extensively, she decided to use them in a visual way creating a narrative consisting of British birds, ultimately recreating her observations of these feathered creatures through the medium of print.

City Crocus by Yvonne Lee.

Yvonne Lee loves the surreal and creating mini narratives in her images for people to find. Drawing underpins all the work so she can produce it in different mediums and apply it to different products. She has recently been selected for an Honourable Mention in the international 3×3 Illustration Annual No.11, 2014 Student Show competition.

Praeter Ipsum by Maria Naydenova.

Maria Naydenova is an illustrator and graphic designer. Her latest project is about parallel, surreal, psychedelic worlds which actually exist inside our brains, tangible only when we sleep. Dreams are our guides to these worlds; they are our ways to escape from reality. While subconsciously traveling, our true nature, our blocked thoughts and unrealized desires may come to light via strange creatures and ridiculous situations.

The Axolotl by Marta Vives Poch.

Marta Vives is an Illustrator, Fine Artist and Concept Art Designer. At Peek, she showcases Cave. The Art-Book, part of an on-going project, which will continue as a textless graphic novel. The psychology-heavy story centres around a girl trapped in a cave with no motivations or memories. An Axolotl is her only friend, whose lead she follows unquestioningly, until a bat flies in, bringing with it proof of a world outside the cave.

Leopards Blending into their Surroundings by Tori.

Tori is a freelance illustrator with a background in Graphic Design. The stories she tells are influenced by her life and daily encounters. At the moment, she is experimenting with papercuts and paper sculptures in an attempt to explore different methods in which she can illustrate the same image or sketch.

Dates & Opening Times: Friday, 3rd October: 10 AM – 7 PM, Saturday, 4th October: 10 AM – 7PM, Sunday, 5th October: 10 AM – 12 noon

Category: Art

Back to college is in full swing, but if you’ve got some things on your course list that you still need or you just fancy some extra nice equipment before the “real work” starts, London Graphic Centre are putting on a whole day of discounts and giveaways at their Covent Garden store. Absolutely everything is 15% off plus they’ll be handing out one thousand incredible goodie bags worth more than £50, all you need to do is spend £15 to get one. They’re also collaborating with some really great people to make the day even better:

People of Print are obsessed with print and aim to inspire as many people as possible through the use of the printed medium. They’ll be running t-shirt printing sessions throughout the day and will be able answer any questions you might have about screen printing. 100 T-shirts will be given away for free, which will be printed right in front of you with a choice of designs and once these have gone, they’ll print onto any t-shirt you bring in for free too.

Instabear are bringing their magic Instagram printer that will churn out Polaroids of any pictures hashtagged #LGCStudentday. Print out your selfies and stick them to the walls in your new room. Perfect.

Opening times: 10am – 6:30pm

Category: Art

The antiquarian bookseller Henry Sotheran offers a moment to reflect on the work of the enigmatic British artist William Blake, in an exhibition of rare books and prints.

The maverick William Blake (1757-1827), engraver, poet, painter, and visionary, was the creator of a complete mythology that is expressed most perfectly in the poetry and imagery contained within his illuminated books: Jerusalem, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, The Book of Thel, The Book of Los, Milton, and Songs of Innocence and Experience.

Despite his compelling imagination, the tour de force that is Blake late in life faded into obscurity with few remaining patrons. Thankfully, his contemporary audience offer a receptive zeitgeist that propagates a dignified position for unconventional persons in the art historical canon. The illustrated books, numerous engraved contributions to the publications of others, along with the exceptional watercolours and paintings bear witness to a volatile, creative genius. The study of the very few printed illuminated books was for many years the preserve of a small circle of scholars and historians. However, in the last sixty years, due in large part to landmark exhibitions and the publishing endeavours of the Trianon Press, Blake’s extraordinary world has been made available to a much wider audience.

Private View: 16th Ocotber, RSVP Roisin O'Connor: roisin@sotherans.co.uk
Opening Times: Monday – Friday 9.30am – 6pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm