Ferrari Dino 206 SP’, a silver, fire opal and photo-plexi glass brooch by Gijs Bakker is one of the highlights in the RE:fresh exhibition currently on in the Crafts Gallery of the Royal Museum.

The brooch, which you can see on the craftscotland website by our interview with the designer Gijs Bakker, is among the eighteen new contemporary craft acquisitions which form the exhibition.

Many of the objects are designed to tantalise and confuse the senses. For example a vase made by Japanese maker Hiroki Iwata looks like porcelain but is made of precious metal clay, a fruit vessel by Finnish maker Maria Jauhiainen is made of wafer-thin silver but feels flexible to the touch, and tartan buttons on a table by Scottish maker Ian Grant are made of strips of coloured wood rather than cloth.

“We have added these unique items to the collections of the National Museums of Scotland because they show the breadth of human imagination and skill in contemporary craft” explains curator Rose Watban.  “From marquetry and flocking to laser welding and photo-etching, these makers have merged new techniques with old to create objects of extraordinary beauty, delicacy and imagination.”

Other exhibits include jewellery by USA makers Daniel Jocz and Robin Quigley, UK designer David Poston and Italian designer Annamaria Zanella; silver by Scottish designer William Kirk and Yukie Osumi from Japan; ceramics by Australian Robin Best, Suku Park from South Korea and UK designer Nicholas Rena; and glass by UK designers Galia Amsel and Steven Newell, who created a handblown, sandblasted glass plate with silver leaf which was inspired by the Japanese print collection in the museum.

The exhibition is on at the Crafts Gallery, Royal Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh from 1 July until 2 October 2005.  Opening hours are Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Tuesday 10am to 8pm and Sunday 12 noon to 5pm. Admission is free.