LEIGHTON HOUSE MUSEUM

  Leighton House Museum, the house Frederic Leighton built for himself in Holland Park, which I visited yesterday, will start a big improvement programme soon, due for completion in 2021. Leighton House is famous for its Orientalist decoration, furnished from Leighton's travels in the near East, and notable for walls covered in Iznik and Persian tiles … Continue reading LEIGHTON HOUSE MUSEUM →

SOCIETY OF DESIGNER CRAFTSMEN (2)

The Society of Designer Craftsmen is excited to be working with Elliot Payne Architects to ensure the Society continues to be the success it is today. To help secure our future, we are currently fundraising to refurbish our headquarters in London's vibrant Shoreditch to provide a members gallery for public exhibitions and creative spaces where members can meet clients and take part in workshops.

VOLTAGE DIP

I've been work furiously for shows over the summer, making use of both my kilns, and the other day my kiln mysteriously turned itself off in the middle of a firing. The cause turned out to be voltage dip, a temporary reduction in the power supply. I'd never heard of voltage dip before, but firing my kiln again and finding everything normal, suggests that this was indeed the reason for its stalling.

MACKINTOSH AND MODERNISM

Charles Rennie Mackintosh absorbed arts and crafts ideas but went beyond them. He never thought that everything should be made by hand or that art was a moral crusade, and however much his buildings resonate with Scottish precedent, they anticipate modernism in their bold abstract shapes.

GLASGOW ART SCHOOL (2)

We face the prospect of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's masterpiece being demolished because the fire damage was so great, and of it existing only in drawings and memory. Perhaps it can be rebuilt to Mackintosh's plan, but the value of reproducing everything exactly as designed in 1897 is doubtful, and it seemed to me that some … Continue reading GLASGOW ART SCHOOL (2) →