central saint martins

Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine

August 8, 2019 by Intern

20 July – 11 August 2019
Lethaby Gallery (Central Saint Martins), 1 Granary Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4AA
Free Entry

By Abi Tominey-Smith

Crafts Council have collaborated with Central Saint Martins within the University Arts London to bring you Tatty Devine’s first solo showcase, including jewellery work, video footage, sketchbook drawings, fashion work and installation pieces. Set in a bright, open setting, reflecting the style of this incredibly cool brand.

University of the Arts London graduates themselves, Harriet Vine and Rosie Wolfenden joined forces about 20 years ago to create the brand Tatty Devine, an original and independent jewellery company based in London. They have challenged the basic conventions of jewellery through their acrylic laser cutting, quirky design and use of scale.

Acid Blossom Ultra Bead Necklace by Tatty Devine.

This body of over 100 work shown spans over their whole creative careers as Tatty Devine, with themes across their collections from Rebellion, Space, Music, Magic, Food to even a reference to Haberdashery!

Being one of the first companies to use laser cutting as a jewellery making technique, their work was bound to stand out. You can see the talent and creative spark of these ladies, as their jewellery is full of originality and personality. The fun colours, shapes and larger scale they’ve played with definitely makes a statement.

Lobster Giant Necklace by Tatty Devine.

Inside Misshapes, there are multiple screens to showing a looped step by step video of how the various materials are turned into wearable jewellery through laser cutting and hand techniques. It shows the process of bending, joining and piecing together such pieces as the Lobster Giant Necklace (above). Many more wacky pieces, similar to the Lobster are on display here.

Tatty Devine are a company very passionate about change and equality which is obvious throughout their work and team with all of their jewellery handmade in the UK by a group of 30 women.

They’ve teamed with The Fawcett Society to fight for women’s rights and often pay homage to the movements such as LGTBQ+ through colour and wording, allowing for their platform to speak up and spread empowering, strong messages.

Courage Calls Necklace (left) and Votes for Women Badge (right) by Tatty Devine

‘Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere’, was a line taken from a speech by feminist Millicent Fawcett that was given after the death of fellow suffragette Emily Davidson. This along with the Votes for Women badges are Tatty Devine’s way of showing support for the suffragettes and women’s rights everywhere. This and many more under the theme of ‘Causes’ are displayed at the exhibition.

Rainbow Halo Instillation with Rosie (left) and Harriet (right) by Tatty Devine, 2018.

Another area covered within Misshapes is their public art, where more recently they have been commissioned to make works for spaces such as the Peninsula Square, Greenwich, where they’ve been able to take their use of scale to a whole new level. Themes of Love, Peace and Magic were the inspiration for this Christmas based instillation. More photographs of their crazy public displays are shown in the exhibition, alongside some of the pieces included.

Altogether, the exhibition was buzzing, innovative and a very engaging experience. With a broad range of subject matters, there’s something for everyone – whether you’re a creative mind or not. It’s definitely a must see!

All images (courtesy from the Misshapes exhibition)

Hawthorne& Heaney on CSM BA 2016

July 8, 2016 by Natasha Searls-Punter

As the academic year is coming to an end, Central Saint Martins, a college in University of the Arts London have hosted their whole school degree show. The university has been transformed into exhibition rooms presenting a small selection of every student’s final collection.

CSM Degree Shows 2016

Each department have presented their work in an appropriate way from glamorous fairy lights in BA Jewellery design to sturdy pieces of scaffolding in BA Fashion. Some stunning examples of embroidery were presented from the BA Fashion students, and as expected all collections portrayed real hard work and creativity to be individual and stand out from the crowd.

BA Fashion – CSM Degree Shows 2016

Fashion student finalist Santiago Garcia Trias featured sequin embroidery heavily in his final collection forming very complicated areas of handmade sequins of all colours and textures.

Garment Close up – Santiago Garcia Trias – CSM Degree Shows 2016

A wide range of materials have been used to create this unusual surface for example metallic paint has been applied over the sequins to create an extra sheen. Santiago has contrasted the highly embellished areas with black silicone and rubber to create the structure of the garment. The close up above is a section of one of his works featuring a range of distorted summer florals. Each garment in his collection has a floral element, the emphasis on the contrast between busy embellishment plain dark fabric helps to emphasise the detail in the embroidery.

Santiago Garcia Trias – CSM Degree Shows 2016

Many of the students have chosen to concentrate on unusual techniques in their projects. Textile Design finalist Molly McAndrew has based her project on woven beadwork and tapestry weaving developing a range of samples using crystal beads from collection sponsors, Swarovski.

Exhibition Space – Molly McAndrew – CSM Degree Show 2016

The fashion accessory collection explores ‘The Adventures of Neko Chan and Gingham Man’ taking real inspiration from people in Japan. The geometric nature of the woven beadwork really creates an innocence and simplicity to the pieces in the collection and it is clear to see that the main influence is Japanese manga art in various forms. A very justifiable collection of work appreciating the laborious yet honourable work of an artisan.

Visualization – Molly McAndrew – CSM Degree Show 2016

As well as delicate intricate work catching the public’s eye throughout the exhibition CSM’s degree shows had a wide range of bold colourful pieces. Jina Park really explored the concept of large handmade sequin work throughout all of the garments in her final BA Fashion collection.

Jina Park – CSM Degree Show 2016

A wide range of paper materials have been used to create this heavily embellished neck piece. She has duplicated the same motif in a range of sizes and colours and used it throughout the collection.

Jina Park – CSM Degree Show 2016

Jina has made the sequins out of a reflective materials which really has really helped with portraying movement and fluidity in such big accessories. To see more garments from her collection visit www.jinapark.co.uk

By Philippa Martin

Hawthorne & Heaney for Andrew Totah

June 30, 2016 by Natasha Searls-Punter

This year we were lucky enough to work with a very promising CSM MA student called Andrew Totah. We produced a series of embroideries for him which feature in his final collection which are so vibrant and exciting, we couldn’t wait to share them with you.

Andrew Totah’s collection is based on his travels through South Africa and features a wonderfully vibrant colour palette which reflects the culture. Andrew’s collection is very much about telling a story through his designs so his girls are superheroes of a kind who modify their clothes and empower themselves by take back control of their city in the night.

We produced a series of heavily machine embroidered patches to compliment his collection, all of which were his own graphic designs. Most of the embroideries are raised from the surface of the fabric, that combined with the punchiness of the colours makes a strong impression.

To see more about the collection and the inspiration behind the designs, as well as the embroidery on the garments shown in the show at the end then have a watch of the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3bs5Yu_1gI