Things in 3s: The final three from Made London

It's been a while since I visited the Made London show at One Marylebone and today I'm sharing the last of the fabulous makers I met there. In fact it's a timely end to this series as last week I had a day at the Spring Fair at Birmingham's NEC and I plan to start sharing more of what I saw there soon.

1. Head and Haft's functional and beautiful wooden homewares

Wood. Isn't it gorgeous, and who knew you could make such gorgeous bowls from it. These boards too were gorgeous and as smooth to touch as they looked. In some ways they're too beautiful to use everyday, but would I think look great with a nice hunk of English cheese on. Head and Haft are based in Cornwall and as well as these items make some fabulous furniture. Their website isn't live yet, but they say it's coming soon.

2. Theo Wright's silk symmetry scarves

These scarves were just lovely - my favourite is the green and red one on the left. I'd been on the lookout for a non-wooly scarf for MOH and these still are serious contenders. Theo, originally from Derby acknowledged his "latent interest in textiles" while travelling in the late nineties. After acquiring a loom and weaving in his spare time he opened his textile design business in 2011.

These scarves are pure class.

3. Victoria Clare Dawes' hand thrown tableware

Victoria is currently based in Sheffield but her work represents her history which involves travelling and living in New Zealand, North America and the UK. Her designs stand out and she uses simplified icons and repetitions from the Maori kowhaiwhai patterns.

And although the cheese and the cheeseboard were what caught my attention initially - I mean, cheeeese! - it was this jug that I thought was her most beautiful and stunning piece.

There were many more makers at Made London, but the ones I've featured throughout this series are the ones I spoke to and who had plenty of time to speak to the people viewing their wares. It was a pleasure to meet you all, understand more about your craft and share that here on my blog.

Love This #65: Vezzini & Chen, ceramic and glass

Today I'm sharing some fantastic hand carved ceramics and hand blown glass, which paired together are simply outstanding. They're by Vezzini & Chen who met and began working together at the Royal College of Art in London. 

The ceramics are the creations of Cristina Vezzini and Stan Chen is an accomplished glassblower. Together their crafts, material and styles artfully interact producing something that's unusual, but no less beautiful for it.

GEO PENDANT LIGHT

The lights above have a bone china core and an outer glass dome. When they're lit the light diffuses through the ceramic core and its texture provides even more pattern.  And aren't those matching vases clever too?

What really captured my heart on this stand though at Made London was these glasses. Their website says these show their signature style and I tend to agree. They look huge - always a bonus when wine's concerned - but they're about 13cm high with a diameter of 8-9cm.

I left their stand after speaking with Christina thinking to myself just how clever and creative they both are..

Love This #64: Markovitch Shaker Boxes

Aren't these boxes beautiful? 

Well, yes I know I have a bit of a thing for boxes, but with boxes like I think it's understandable. Sadly not all of my boxes are as beautiful as this, and since I saw them I've been wondering about how I could wangle some of these for myself.  As yet, I haven't managed it and the yellow handbag I saw put paid to one of these sewing boxes as a Christmas present.

It was at Made London in October where I saw a whole stack of these boxes and spent quite a while speaking to Murray the Shaker boxmaker, who's based in Romsey, Hampshire. He makes his boxes in the traditional Shaker way, without glue and using copper rivets and tiny wooden pins to fix the tops and bases to the sides. The swallowtail detail at the front of each box - that's the shaped design element - is more than just design; it helps prevent the wood splitting and helps spread the pressure where the wood bends.

As well as stacking to form a tower (see the last image below) the clever boxes also fit inside one another so if you're not using them they store easily too. They're available in American maple (the lighter colour shown) and red cherry which was a deeper, richer colour and I think my favourite, just.

Murray says they were the Tupperware of their day, now I'm wondering why Tupperware didn't just sell these instead?  Anyway... The design dates back over two hundred years and their first use - by the Shakers - was as food storage containers, which soon became a must-have item in many American kitchens. I can see why, but surely too nice just for food?  

The Shakers thought so too, and the bigger boxes were used for sewing and other practical purposes around the house. Murray makes and sells the larger sizes as dedicated sewing boxes (or as boxes for anything that you need compartments for I guess). At first glance you might think they're costly at £150 for the medium sized box and £200 for the larger box, but given the amount of work that goes into making these by hand in the traditional way, I don't think it's so bad.

And even so, they look a good way of storing your materials to me...