Craft Scotland at SOFA Chicago

After a successful showcase of exceptional Scottish Craft at SOFA Chicago 2012, Craft Scotland are delighted to join the celebrations for a second time. SOFA Chicago sees its 20th anniversary in 2013, and Craft Scotland will take Scottish craft to the U.S. for this very special show.

The Chicago show will be in place of SOFA New York which will no longer go ahead this year. All the makers who were originally selected for the show in SOFA New York 2013 will join Craft Scotland at SOFA Chicago 2013. A new selection panel chose a further eight makers to completement our existing collection, bringing the total number of Scottish makers to be represented by Craft Scotland at SOFA Chicago 2013 to sixteen.

The makers who will exhibit outstanding Scottish craft with Craft Scotland at SOFA Chicago 2013 are:

• Lizzie Farey - Basket Maker, Kircudbright
• Mette Fruergaard-Jensen - Wood and Metal, Leith
• John Galvin Design - Furniture, Glasgow
• Jennifer Gray - Jewellery, Edinburgh
• Marion E Kane - Silver, North Ayrshire
• Alison Kinnaird - Glass, Midlothian
• Grant McCaig - Silver, Edinburgh
• Naomi Mcintosh - Jewellery, Aberdeenshire
• Craig Mitchell - Ceramics, Leith
• Susan O'Byrne - Ceramics, Glasgow
• Frances Priest - Ceramics, Leith
• Patricia Shone - Ceramics, Isle of Skye
• Amanda Simmons - Glass, Castle Douglas
• Craig Stuart - Jewellery, Dunkeld
• Katharina Vones - Jewellery, Edinburgh
• Andrea Walsh - Ceramics, Edinburgh

SOFA, which represents Sculptural Objects and Functional Art, is a key event for the international collectors market, and regularly receives upwards of 35,000 visitors across three days. 

SOFA Chicago 2013 takes place at the Navy Pier and runs from Friday 01 November to Sunday 03 November 2013, with an opening preview the evening of Thursday 31 October 2013. 

Read a full press release on Craft Scotland at SOFA Chicago 2013.

Meet the SOFA Chicago 2013 makers

Lizzie Farey is a Kirkudbright based basket maker inspired by the shapes and forms in nature. She makes a both functional and decorative pieces such as spheres, nest-like forms, bowls and vases, woven using a random interlacing technique.

Danish born Mette Freuergaard-Jensen creates functional boxes in different materials, such as wood, aluminium, copper, bone and resin. Prior to working in wood and metals, she worked in ceramics and owned her own pottery for 25 years.

Award winning cabinetmaker and furniture artist John Galvin, winner of the British TRADA Wood Award in 2011, will make his US debut with a selection of work handmade in his studio in Glasgow. 

Jeweller Jennifer Gray creates work through the use of traditional hand carving methods, enhanced by taking advantage of emerging digital technologies. Her pieces give the wearer an experience of removing wearable garlands from a classical stone urn to adorn themselves. 

Marion Kane produces handcrafted silverware using traditional techniques of hand raising and fabrication. Based in West Kilbride (Craft Town Scotland), her work is inspired by the everyday patterns she finds in the West Coast of Scotland from the village landscapes through to the peaks of the Isle of Arran.  

Glass artist Alison Kinnaird MBE, who recently completed a major commission for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to coincide with an opening by the Queen as part of her Jubilee tour, will show at SOFA for the sixth time. 

Award winning silversmith Grant McCaig will be showing a selection of work handmade in his Edinburgh studio. His new work explores the origins of forms and focus on process, action, metamorphosis, value and alchemy.

Naomi Mcintosh produces structural and precise jewellery pieces which she considers to be ‘Wearable Drawings’. Her process involves hand drawings of the body, exploring the surface of the skin, as well as 3D body scans.

Leith based ceramicist Craig Mitchell uses humour throughout his work to explore contemporary culture and universal themes.

Glasgow based maker Susan O’Byrne creates ceramic animals which she uses as a vehicle to express human emotions. She aims to give her animals a certain awkwardness which is achieved through the process she uses to create them.

Leith based ceramicist Frances Priest is influenced by pattern books in decorative art and design. Her pieces focus on simple vessel forms as vehicles for her own re-working of patterns from a diverse array of sources.

Patricia Shone, an Isle of Skye based ceramicist, often uses materials from the land around her to signify the influence that the powerful Skye landscape has on her work. 

Glass artist Amanda Simmons makes kilnformed glass vessels. She uses opaque glass powders to construct her work, and coldworking processes, such as sandblasting and diamond point and wheel engraving, to shape and mark the glass after firing.

From his studio in Dunkeld, jeweller Craig Stuart produces pieces using a contemporary adaption of the Japanese metalwork technique mokume gane. He is one of only a few goldsmiths in the world making pieces in this way, using exclusively precious metals.

Katharina Vones is a German craft maker now based in Edinburgh. Katharina makes jewellery using contemporary techniques such as photo-etching, laser welding and rapid prototyping. 

Ceramicist Andrea Walsh works with a combination of ceramics and glass to create work that encourages a tactile response. Andrea’s work often includes a unique application of precious metals which enhances the overall concept of the work. 

Craft Scotland at SOFA