Lab Craft features 26 of the most experimental names in craft and design. Traditional craft skills have been combined with cutting-edge digital technologies.

Crafts Council exhibition Lab Craft opens at Craft Town Scotland

Lab Craft: Digital adventures in contemporary craft opens from 2 May to 3 June 2012 at the Barony Centre, Craft Town Scotland, West Kilbride.

Jewellery made from sound waves, table lights created by a 3D printer, and a ceramic pot that can be scanned by an iPhone, all form part of this touring Crafts Council exhibition.

Lab Craft features 26 of the most experimental names in craft and design. Traditional craft skills have been combined with cutting-edge digital technologies to create unusual and unfamiliar objects that take a fresh look at how technology can be used by craft makers.

The exhibition is curated by design commentator Max Fraser and includes textiles, ceramics, furniture, jewellery, glass and lighting by makers and designers including Tord Boontje, Committee, Michael Eden, Gareth Neal, Nina Tolstrup and Timorous Beasties.

Lab Craft highlights include;

o Woven Wood by Gary Allson and Ismini Samanidou explores how digital making methods can be used to translate magnified textile weave structures into timber.

o Bubble jewellery by Lynne Maclachlan mimics delicate bubble and foam structures using a computer and digital generative technique to create forms which are then made tangible using rapid prototyping technology.

o Shine by Edinburgh-based Geoffrey Mann has been using digital techniques to investigate the reflective properties of a metallic object – in this case a Victorian candelabra. A planar 3D scanner was used to document the reflective information, which was in turn used to create a rapid prototyped form, which has been cast. This piece renders the impossible by encapsulating the beauty of light shining off silver.

Quotes

Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director, Crafts Council, said:
“Lab Craft showcases some of the most innovative contemporary craft being made today, and the exhibition is a great way of exploring and understanding the technologies and methods that connect the digital and the handmade. We are extremely pleased that Lab Craft is finishing its run in the stunning new Barony Centre – a venue that will hopefully herald a new interest in contemporary craft in West Kilbride as part of the Craft Town Scotland project.”

Maggie Broadley, Director, Craft Town Scotland, said;
“The Barony Centre will be the only Scottish venue to host the Lab Craft exhibition and I am delighted that we have been able to work with Crafts Council in bringing work of such high calibre to West Kilbride, in this the Year of Creative Scotland. The show will launch The Barony Centre and its creative programme, which has been greatly enhanced by Craft Town Scotland’s winning one of 3 prestigious Year of Creative Scotland Creative Place Awards 2012”.

Opening times;

Mon - Sat 10am till 5pm
Sun - 12noon till 5pm
Admission Free
Fully accessible throughout

Image Credit:
Shine by Geoffrey Mann, 2010, Photo: Nick Moss

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