The exhibition by 30 artists shortlisted for the Loewe Craft Prize 2018 includes some great textile pieces. Some of the work I have seen before at the Craft Council’s Collect shows in the past couple of years, but it’s no hardship seeing them again.
My favourite is Simone Pheulpin’s ‘Croissance XL’ (XL Growth), which looks from the distance like a cracked geological sample.
Up close you can see that it’s actually made up of densely pleated strips of cotton – quite amazing.
In a similar vein, Scalaria Bifurca by Mercedes Vicente is a coiled shell-like structure made of canvas spirals.
And on a smaller scale, Rita Soto’s banded horsehair brooches twist sinuously, like distorted snails.
Richard McVetis’s 60 stitched felt cubes represent the passing of time, as he stitched one cube every hour.
Yeonsoon Chang’s three panels of indigo-dyed abaca fabric (dipped more than 30 times) doesn’t look much in the photograph, but gazing on the fabric is quite a meditative Zen-like experience.
ARKO, a self-described “straw artist”, weaves and stitches rice straw into beautiful undulating forms, bringing together traditional techniques and contemporary life.
I also liked the shingled room divider, made from three different types of wood by Wycliffe Stutchbury – light on one side and dark on the other.
Ashley YK Yeo’s hand cut paper cube is delicately exquisite, beautifully lit to enhance the shadows.
And Sam Tho Duong’s jewellery, made from gold-plated silver and freshwater pearls, seems to glow from within.
Finally, a special mention to Steffen Dam, whose cabinet of glass curiosities call to mind the glass sea creatures made by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka.
The Loewe Craft Prize exhibition runs at the Design Museum in London until 17 June 2018.
Flextiles 