The purity of white, richness of gold and timelessness of pearl have inspired artists and designers across the centuries. This June we bring these materials together with a dynamic selection of artists from across the applied arts.
Included is glass by Choi Keeryong and Nancy Sutcliffe, ceramics by Inhwa Lee, Nami Takahashi and Yuta Segawa, and jewellery by Grainne Morton, Marianne Anderson, Mariko Sumioka, Misun Won, Michael Carberry and Elizabeth Jane Campbell.
Originally from South Korea, Choi Keeryong came to Britain to complete a Master of Design at Edinburgh College of Art and in 2010, continued to embark on a PhD in Glass and Architectural Glass. Keeryong has exhibited widely across the UK whilst investigating the similarities and differences between cultural groups in terms of their aesthetic perceptions of visual experiences, particularly in relation to unfamiliar materials and surface imagery.
Choi’s motivation for creating this body of work is to explore how the ambiguity of an individual’s cultural interpretation can help to create the state of “uncanni-ness” in the audience’s visual experiences. He believes that this ‘uncanni-ness’ provokes emotions and feelings and Choi manipulates this powerful tool within his artistic practice to promote the awareness of stereotypes in an individual’s cultural understanding. Developing inlaid colouring techniques inspired by the ancient Korean “Saggam” pottery allows him to explore the state of ambiguity in visual experience by delineating geometric patterns and counterfeit letters onto glass artworks and encapsulating them in between the layers of transparent glass. The use of historical symbolism of tea and the popularity of English manufactured ceramic teapots are the metaphor for the cultural stereotype in both West and East.
‘My artistic approach is inspired by my personal experiences of being in-between-ness in terms of my current cultural location.’
Choi’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally including SOFA Chicago, USA, International Glass Prize 2015, Belgium, and Collect, London, UK. Choi received the Glass Biennale 2015 National Glass Centre (NGC) Residency Award and has been selected as a Loewe Craft Prize 2023 finalist.
Public Collections include: Museums and Galleries Edinburgh (City of Edinburgh Council); Oriental Museum, Durham University.
Nancy Sutcliffe is a graduate of North Staffordshire Polytechnic, Stoke-on-Trent, where she graduated in Design in 1979 and displayed an exceptional talent for drawing. Working as a medical and technical illustrator after graduating, and later as a freelance illustrator, it wasn’t until 1994 that she began working with glass – initially as a glass painter. In 2004 she attended a short engraving course at West Dean College taught by Tracey Sheppard, which in turn led Nancy to specialise in glass engraving. Engraving, gilding and painting are the key elements in her artistic practice, and she uses these techniques in various combinations to produce her work. Nancy works from her studio in Herefordshire. Nancy exhibits internationally and has been a selected finalist in significant exhibitions such as the International Glass Prize Exhibition at Toyama Glass Museum, Japan 2018 and the Coburg Glaspreis exhibition, Germany 2014 and 2022. She has been included in five of the British Glass Biennale exhibitions, most recently in 2022. In 2018 Nancy was named Wimbledon Championship Artist alongside glassblower Katie Huskie, and the collaboration produced 2 large sculptures for the main staircase in the clubhouse.
“I became a glass engraver after a career as a scientific and medical illustrator. I find I have come full circle, and my subject matter today is informed by that training in precision and attention to naturalistic detail. I use a hand held drill in much the same way as I used to use a pencil, though now using diamonds and stones I am able to carve deeply into the crystal bringing the illusion of 3D. The addition of gilding has become a characteristic of my current work – precious metal leaf in rich patterns inspired by my time living in the middle east.”
Private Collections include:
Broadfield House Glass Museum, Stourbridge, UK; Glasmuseum Frauenau, Germany
Studying at both the Musashino Art University Junior College of Art and Design, Kyoto, as well as the Istitute Statale d’arte, Faenza, Italy, Nami has exhibited her work internationally.
Currently living and working in Tokyo, she has won several commendations for her ceramic designs, including the Asahi Contemporary Craft Design Award and most recently at the 9th Contemporary Chatou Fair and 4th Tobi Award.
Nami’s work features in A Japanese Design, 30 July – 29 August 2020.
Originally from Japan, Yuta Segawa lives and works in London specialising in producing miniature pottery. He honed his ceramic skills in Japan, China, and London; completing a BA at Musashion Art University, Toyko and his MA at Camberwell College of Arts, London. All of Segawa’s miniature pots are thrown individually by hand and he has more than five hundred original glazes which he applies to each miniature. Working in miniature poses a real challenge – testing the limits of what a human body can make on such a small scale. Segawa’s work has been exhibited both in the UK and internationally.
Born and raised in Northern Ireland, Grainne was immersed in and surrounded by the traditional crafts, folklore, music and fairy tales of the country. Perhaps it’s this beginning to her story that has now imbued her work with it’s somewhat contradictory nature – all at once vintage and contemporary, precious and non-precious, spontaneous and ordered, junk and treasure. Each piece, carefully choreographed, the arranging and re-arranging of little objects, and precious things, moved and re-placed until they establish a relationship to each other and tell a story to the viewer.
Moving to Edinburgh in the late eighties to study at Edinburgh College of Art led to Grainne becoming an avid collector of antiques and ephemera. When her parents visited her in Edinburgh, they would go on antique-buying trips for their shop at home in Northern Ireland, and Grainne would tag along. Her collections became her inspiration, and her inspiration became her work. This use of unexpected, and delightfully juxtaposed, materials is where it all started, and 25 years later, is now firmly her trademark. Grainne’s work has been exhibited internationally and, in 2007, she was shortlisted for the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize.
Public Collections include:
National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh; Crafts Council Collection, London; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada; Ulster Museum, Belfast
Marianne Anderson graduated from The Glasgow School of Art in 2003 with an Honours Degree in Jewellery Design. Since then, Marianne has developed her exquisite jewellery from her studio in Glasgow. Working within a restrained palette of oxidised silver, 18ct gold, red garnets and white pearls, she creates luxurious and wearable collections that reference ornamental detailing and all things decorative. Inspired by traditional decorative forms found in architectural features like decorative ironwork, Marianne skilfully uses traditional jewellery techniques to make her collections. Luxurious stone settings, intricate pierced patterns, and detailed surface texture all add to the allure of each piece. This combination of colour and artistry results in a treasury of unique and feminine pieces that are beautiful to wear.
‘My interest is rooted in how we learn and draw from the past and return frequently to designs, motifs and patterns of historic and symbolic significance. By purposefully engaging with the past, my aim is to highlight the importance of ornament in a modern context. Far from superfluous, ornament has always had its own vocabulary and meaning and I try to engage with this through my work.’
Misun Won graduated with a masters degree in 2008 from Edinburgh College of Art. Originally from Korea, her work is associated with the delicacy of highly refined handcraft from the East. Her extensive experience of living and working in both Britain and Korea has given her a broader cultural outlook. It has enabled her to position herself in what she calls “neutral territory” and to examine both cultures with “fresh eyes”. Influences from both countries can be seen in her work: a major inspiration is Korean patchwork, but this highly traditional form is interpreted through Western fractal geometry; creating dynamic structures for her collection.
Misun received a commendation at Goldsmiths’ Fair 2019 for her latest collection.
Mariko Sumioka creates sculptural jewellery evocative of both the East and the West. Her inspiration is deeply rooted in Japanese culture and Zen principles. She is fascinated by traditional Japanese architecture: the natural materials and colours,dark and bright contrasts, linear forms, geometric shapes and spaces. At Edinburgh College of Art, she developed her unique abstract aesthetic by combining precious metals with bamboo,enamel, patina and antique kimono. This collaging approach is an essential part of her creative process, along with a love for beautifully crafted details. The stories told inside these miniature, precious compositions are unfinished – it is up to you, the wearer to invent the rest.
“I feel awe and respect for natural and man-made objectswhich have been there and lived since ancient times. This idea is deeply rooted in my origin: Japanese culture and environments.The Japanese respect, understand and accept nature as one of their members.”
Awards include:
2015 Winner of Jewellery of the Year, Collect, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2014 Second prize of Best New Design at Goldsmiths’Fair, Goldsmiths’Hall, London, UK
“I place the finished work in front of a window bathed in sunlight to take the time to contemplate the finished object, observing the light passing through the walls of the vessel and feeling the texture of the clay. Whilst walking along the Suiupchon Valley behind my studio, I dream about depicting clear water on white porcelain, and when walking through snowfields, imagine capturing the snowflakes on this smooth pure white surface. I realise these images through new works, placing them again by the window and contemplating them.”
Inhwa Lee works with a blend of opaque and translucent clay and porcelain to create hand-thrown cylindrical vessels with a marbled appearance. Once her clay is dry, she works the interior and exterior of each piece to render the walls so fine that light can pass through them. In creating delicate clay vessels that resemble marbled paper and appear to glow from within, Lee pushes her material to its limit and displays its inherent elegance.
Yanggu White Porcelain is world renowned for its beautiful purity of colour and strength when fired to high temperatures, and is found in the Bangsan Region. For hundreds of years, and within living memory, potteries were located at the foot of the mountains there. Inhwa Lee and her husband Kim Deok-ho moved to the area to study Yanggu White Clay at the Yanggu White Porcelain Centre, which was founded by Seoul University in 2013.
Michael graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1996, and set up a workshop the following year at Cockpit Arts Studios, London. Michael’s distinctive style of jewellery owes a great deal to sculpture with his hand forged rings, bracelets and neckpieces looking as if they have grown from the metal.
Michael has recently embarked on a complementary sculptural direction, and three pieces have been exhibited at Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions.
His work has featured in exhibitions both in the UK and internationally, and is featured in public and private collections.
Elizabeth Jane Campbell graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2013, and then spent a year as Artist in Residence at Glasgow School of Art before establishing her own studio in Edinburgh. Elizabeth’s award winning jewellery has been exhibited across the UK and abroad – most recently in Milan, Munich and America.
‘My recent work explores the connection between colour and shape – taking inspiration from colour theory, colour connotations and visual literacy. Using vitreous enamel enables me to achieve fantastic colours which I contrast with simple oxidised silver settings. The surface finish of the enamel is really important, as a gloss or matt finish can really change the quality of the enamel colour. Each piece is hand finished to highlight the vibrancy of the colour.’
Permanent collections include:
The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; The Goldsmiths’ Company, London
Elizabeth was the subject of a solo exhibition in March 2020 – Colour Connections. Read our blog for an insight into her studio and the inspiration behind her work.
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