Despite the global interest in new and advanced production technologies, the process of making something with our hands has become once again a source of great pleasure. The reasons behind this reborn interest in handmade products and in traditional techniques can easily be found in the growing concerns for sustainability and authenticity, but also in our need to detach ourselves from the virtual world we are connected to 24-hour a day and de-stress.
A new exhibition entitled "Hand Made: Long Live Crafts" currently on at The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, explores the pleasure of handmaking through 500 objects from the Middle Ages to the present day, from the Netherlands and other European countries.
The main theme of the exhibition - analysed also in other events such as "The Power of Making" at London's V&A in 2011 - is tackled through a wide range of pieces that are not arranged chronologically, but are centred around thematic groups inspired by popular clichés that exist about the concept of ‘crafts’ - honest, unique, virtuosity, art, craftsmanship, tradition and handicraft.
Visitors will find inspiration in different objects and materials (brass, cotton, glazed ceramic, silver filigree and wood, to mention just a few ones) - each of them linked to disciplines as varied as art, fashion and interior design. The pieces on display range from Venetian glass from the 17th century to an inlaid screen by Studio Job; from a sweater made from the fleece of a single sheep by Christien Meindertsma to a design by Iris van Herpen; from the colourful "Clay Furniture" by designer Maarten Baas to refined needlepoint lace and examples of domestic embroidery.
Handmaking is also an important issue from a socio-economic point of view since, though technology rules supreme in our lives, we will need to retrain a new generation of artisans to avoid losing vitally important skills.
The event is also accompanied by short videos that explain traditional techniques and offers visitors the chance to take part in workshops with craftspeople in disciplines such as knitting, crocheting, woodworking, violin making, printing and book binding, basketry, millinery, glove making, but also 3D printing, animation and even sneaker making using traditional techniques.
"Today's renewed attention for crafts is not simply a nostalgic looking back but more a component of the creative quest for new, contemporary methods and techniques," states the exhibition curator Mienke Simon Thomas in an official press release. Looks like the path to the future definitely stands in combining manual labour and skills with innovative technologies.
Hand Made: Long Live Crafts is at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Museumpark 18-20, 3015 CX Rotterdam, The Netherlands, until 20th May 2013.
Image credits:
Johanna Schweizer, Twins, 2011. Cotton and metallic threads dipped in resin, 134 x 59 x 19 cm. Courtesy of Brutto Gusto fine arts, Berlin. Photo: Peter Cox.
Iris van Herpen, Asymmetric Coral Dress, 2012. Silver metal plissé. Photo: Michel Zoeter
Studio Job, Bavaria Screen, 2008. Rosewood inlaid with various coloured exotic woods, height 185 cm.
Grayson Perry, The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, 2011. Cast iron, oil paint, glass, rope, wood, flint hand axe, Image courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery, London. Copyright Grayson Perry. Photo: Stephen White
Maaarten Baas, Clay Furniture, 2006. Industrial clay, metal and coloured lacquer, variable sizes.
M.W.V. Dijsselhof-Keuchenius, A thing of beauty is a joy forever, 1905-1907, cross-stitch embroidery. Collection Gemeentemuseum, The Hague.
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