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Books > Arts & Architecture > Art forms, treatments & subjects > Decorative arts & crafts
The nineteenth century - the Era of the Interior - witnessed the steady displacement of art from the ceilings, walls, and floors of aristocratic and religious interiors to the everyday spaces of bourgeois households, subject to their own enhanced ornamentation. Following the 1863 Salon des refuses, the French State began to channel mediocre painters into the decorative arts. England, too, launched an extensive reform of the decorative arts, resulting in more and more artists engaged in the production and design of complete interiors. America soon followed. Present art historical scholarship - still indebted to a modernist discourse that sees cultural progress to be synonymous with the removal of ornament from both utilitarian objects and architectural spaces - has not yet acknowledged the importance of the decorative arts in the myriad interior spaces of the 1800s. Nor has mainstream art history reckoned with the importance of the interior in nineteenth-century life and thought. Aimed at an interdisciplinary audience, including art and design historians, historians of the modern interior, interior designers, visual culture theorists, and scholars of nineteenth-century material culture, this collection of essays studies the modern interior in new ways. The volume addresses the double nature of the modern interior as both space and image, blurring the boundaries between arts and crafts, decoration and high art, two-dimensional and three-dimensional design, trompe-l'oeil effects and spatial practices. In so doing, it redefines the modern interior and its objects as essential components of modern art.
The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, holds stunning examples of jewellery and metalwork from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This exceptional period of design covers the neo-Gothic and historicist designs of the mid- to late nineteenth century, the groundbreaking work of British Arts & Crafts designers, sinuous curves influenced by the European Art Nouveau movement and the structural modernity of the 1930s. The collection contains jewellery by some of the finest historicist designers, including the Castellani and Giuliano families and John Brogden, as well as a spectacular decanter by William Burges. There are important pieces of jewellery and silver by the most famous of Arts & Crafts designers, including C.R. Ashbee, Henry Wilson, Gilbert Marks and John Paul Cooper. Unique pieces designed by the artist Charles Ricketts hold a special place in the history of queer art in Britain, having been designed for his friends Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper, a couple known collectively as Michael Field. Modernist silver is represented by leaders of the field Omar Ramsden and H.G. Murphy. This beautifully illustrated volume reproduces 70 of the Museum's most important pieces from this period, many previously unpublished, with comparative illustrations of some of the original designs. Importantly, the book is arranged chronologically by designer and includes biographies, a description of their work and how it changed over time, as well as commentary about the specific works in the Museum's collection. The resulting book therefore brings together for the first time the Fitzwilliam's exceptionally fine holdings of jewellery and metalwork from this highly popular and fruitful period of design.
This is a detailed study of the illustrations to Amir Khusrau's Khamsah, in which twenty discourses are followed by a brief parable, and four romances. Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) lived the greater part of adventurous life in Delhi; he composed in Persian, and also in Hindi. From the point of view of manuscript illustration, his most important work is his Khamsah (Quintet'). Khusrau's position as a link between cultures of Persia and India means that the early illustrated copies of the Khamsah have a particular interest. The first extant exemplar is from the Persian area in the late 14th century, but a case can be made that work was probably illustrated earlier in India.
This volume brings together a cross-disciplinary group of anthropologists, researchers of craft, and designer-makers to enumerate and explore the diversity and complexity of problem-solving tactics and strategies employed by craftspeople, together with the key social, cultural, and environmental factors that give rise to particular ways of problem solving. Presenting rich, textured ethnographic studies of craftspeople at work around the world, Craftwork as Problem Solving examines the intelligent practices involved in solving a variety of problems and the ways in which these are perceived and evaluated both by makers and creators themselves, and by the societies in which they work. With attention to local factors such as training regimes and formal education, access to tools, socialisation and cultural understanding, budgetary constraints and market demands, changing technologies and materials, and political and economic regimes, this book sheds fresh light on the multifarious forms of intelligence involved in design and making, inventing and manufacturing, and cultivating and producing. As such, it will appeal to scholars of anthropology, sociology, and cultural geography, as well as to craftspeople with interests in creativity, skilful practice, perception and ethnography.
Now available in paperback, this book devotes itself exclusively to rings, considering them thematically rather than chronologically. The author, a world expert, has rich historical and literary knowledge. As she considers rings in all their forms she makes us delight in them as works of art, and makes their context come alive through paintings, drawings and vivid quotations.
This concise guide has all the information you need to successfully makeyour ownjewelry using knotting techniques. Clear, step-by-step, fully illustrated instructions show you exactly how to knot between beads and attach various types of clasps and finishes. The book also explains how to evaluate, select, and care for pearls and gemstones; how to select findings and tools; the pros and cons of silk versus nylon stringing material; and more."
Friendship knows no bounds, and now that the internet has connected us with a host of on-line friends, the desire for trading and sharing tokens such as friendship bracelets has become more popular than ever. Learn over two dozen braiding techniques and how to use the popular braiding wheel in this easy book.
Designed for crafters, puzzle lovers, and pattern designers alike, Crafting Conundrums: Puzzles and Patterns for the Bead Crochet Artist provides methods, challenges, and patterns that offer a springboard for creative exploration. All are illustrated with beautiful color diagrams and photographs. Experienced bead crochet crafters looking for a project may choose to skip ahead to the pattern pages and begin crocheting from an abundance of unique, mathematically inspired designs. Those wishing to design their own patterns will find many useful tools, template patterns, and a new methodology for understanding how to do so even without using math. Puzzle lovers without previous knowledge of bead crochet will also find ample inspiration for learning the craft. The first part of the book describes the basic requirements and constraints of a bead crochet pattern and explains what makes designing in this medium so tricky. The authors present their new design framework and offer insight on how best to approach design choices and issues unique to bead crochet. The second part presents a series of bead crochet design challenges informed by colorful bits of mathematics, including topology, graph theory, knot theory, tessellations, and wallpaper groups. Each chapter in this section begins with a design puzzle accompanied by an introduction to the mathematical idea that inspired it. The authors then discuss what made the challenge difficult, present some of their solutions, and describe the thinking and ideas behind their approach. The final part contains nearly 100 original bead crochet patterns, including solutions to all the design challenges. This part also provides a tutorial on the fundamentals of bead crochet technique. Behind the deceptively simple and uniform arrangement of beads is a subtle geometry that produces compelling design challenges and fascinating mathematical structures. In color throughout, Crafting Conundrums gives both math enthusiasts and crafters an innovative approach to creating bead crochet patterns while addressing a variety of mathematically inspired design questions. Supplementary materials, including demo videos, are available on the book's CRC Press web page.
First published in 1971, this book was the first major survey ever made in this field. It includes all the main museum collections in the world, and enables comparative study of almost all the known jewellery from predynastic times to the end of the XXVIth Dynasty (525 B.C.) to be made. The jewellery of the ancient Egyptian civilization was of a delicacy and magnificence seldom rivalled; much has been learned by comparing the jewels themselves, and the techniques and materials of those who made them. But this book draws also on other branches of Egyptian art, since paintings and sculpture sometimes provide evidence showing how the jewellery was made and worn. Each section opens with a brief history of the period reviewed, and an account of the manner in which the individual jewels were discovered both of which help those readers unfamiliar with Egyptological matters. The key pieces are described in detail, and the text is generously illustrated with line drawings and plates. An indispensable reference book for all those with an interest in the art of ancient Egypt."
The Tower of London has over two million visitors a year, with the Crown Jewels as its centrepiece. This paperback edition of the official illustrated history of the Crown Jewels, the most famous jewelry collection in the world, incorporates spectacular new photographs with stunning details. Accessible and up-to-date text, based on original research, includes the story of two of the largest and most famous diamonds in the world - the Kohi-nur and the Cullinan. This is the perfect souvenir for visitors to the Tower of London, as well as an ideal introduction for anyone interested in English history and monarchy.
"...it's the colorful photographs (over 500!) of one-of-a-kind Hopi and Moroccan-inspired mosaic pieces featured in her memoir, out in October, that truly command attention, from ammonite fossils and ivory animal renderings to stunning lapis, coral, and turquoise designs." - Natural Diamonds North African-born Eveli Sabatie had a long-time fascination with Native American culture and history. As a young woman, she left her home in Paris in 1968 to move to San Francisco, hoping to learn more. A chance encounter with a Hopi traditionalist led to an invitation to Arizona, where she apprenticed with a master Native American jewellery-maker. For her, this was the beginning of a new world. Art can never be fully divided from the artist's voice, nor the natural world. When Eveli encountered red jasper while roaming the Arizona mountains, she knew she had to incorporate her local geology into her work. Yet raw materials are just one of many ways in which the world around Eveli shapes her art. This book is a direct and personal exploration of Eveli's work, following her arc of growth, challenges and internal workings. Eveli's jewellery is entirely created by her, from gathering material to fabricating the body of the piece, doing the lapidary work and finally adding stone settings and finishings. She works in a rustic, ancient environment, often choosing to use rudimentary and home-made tools over commercial techniques. This book explores her creative process through five sections: THE JOURNEY, a biographical overview of her time at the Hopi reservation in Northern Arizona, where she apprenticed under Charles Loloma; CLOUDS AND RAIN, exploring the influence of the Hopi and the desert on her work; BEING HOME, which talks in greater detail about Eveli's relationship with the environment; BEING HUMAN, a philosophical study of humanity through jewellery; and BRANCHING OUT, which features Eveli's other artworks, which are sought after by collectors from around the world. This is a profound reflection on the earth, through the medium of jewellery.
Silversmithing for Jewellery Makers is a lusciously illustrated book that offers an authoritative, inspirational insight into the art and craft of silver jewellery making for today's artisan. Now updated with new information, project inspiration and profiles of renowned jewellers, this remains the go-to book on silver jewellery making. Covering all the main skills, treatments and techniques, this comprehensive guide leaves nothing out. From soldering to engraving, every technique is explained with a detailed overview, followed by a carefully-illustrated step-by-step tutorial. Traditional techniques such as filigree are examined alongside contemporary designs and profiles of world-renowned jewellers, updated in this edition to also feature Cynthia Eid, Regine Schwarzer and Ute Decker. A treasure trove of useful tips and information, the book also includes extensive sections on materials, tools and health and safety. An invaluable resource for professionals, a must-have guide for beginners and a unique source of inspiration for all levels of jewellery makers and designers, this book guarantees a strong position on the backlist.
Whittling is more than just a way of busying idle hands - it is a pastime for those who love the texture of wood and a way of life for those who feel a special connection between people and trees. This beautiful and practical guide to the art of whittling offers the perfect antidote to the stresses of modern life and a means of getting back to basics and creating unique items from scratch. Inside you will learn about the ancient art of whittling as one of the earliest forms of artistic expression; the different types of wood to use in your work; the simple tools you need to get started; and the various cutting techniques. The Art of Whittling also preaches the idea of Danish hygge - translating to coziness and being with friends and family in a warm atmosphere. Here, author Niklas Karlsson gives us an insight into why the Danes are considered the happiest people in the world - and how you can bring some hygge into your own lives. More than just a manual, this book offers a contemplative view on a skill that is more popular than ever.
Representing the third generation of Vuittons, Gaston-Louis's wide interests and voracious curiosity were intimately bound with the future of the family business. A collector since his childhood, Gaston-Louis Vuitton (1883-1970) accumulated hundreds of objects over his lifetime. In addition to forming a collection of trunks - his first motivation and the one he announced publicly - his roving eye lit upon rare antique travel articles, locks and escutcheons, hand tools, perfume bottles, African masks, walking canes, vintage children's toys, books, hotel labels (usually fixed on customers' trunks), printed monograms and other typographical rarities. Together they form a rich personal evocation of curiosites industrielles, or quirks of the trade, as Gaston-Louis liked to call them. He described himself as an `unrepentant collector', delighted by the `joy of the treasure hunter, the toil of the collector, [...] an inexhaustible source of inspiration'. This is a collection that will capture the imagination of anyone inspired by bizarre and eclectic curiosities, or those with an interest in the cultural taste and interests of someone who lived through the height of the Art Deco period - indeed, someone whose life was defined by the rigours and the rewards of world travel. It exhibits the highest design and production values for discerning international voyagers in search of the sources of luxury creativity.
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations, thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The histories of East and West Germany traditionally emphasize the Cold War rivalries between the communist and capitalist nations. Yet, even as the countries diverged in their political directions, they had to create new ways of working together economically. In Designing One Nation, Katrin Schreiter examines the material culture of increasing economic contacts in divided Germany from the 1940s until the 1990s. Trade events, such as fairs and product shows, became one of the few venues for sustained links and knowledge between the two countries after the building of the Berlin Wall. Schreiter uses industrial design, epitomized by the furniture industry, to show how a network of politicians, entrepreneurs, and cultural brokers attempted to nationally re-inscribe their production cultures, define a postwar German identity, and regain economic stability and political influence in postwar Europe. What started as a competition for ideological superiority between East and West Germany quickly turned into a shared, politically legitimizing quest for an untainted post-fascist modernity. This work follows products from the drawing board into the homes of ordinary Germans to offer insights into how converging visions of German industrial modernity created shared expectations about economic progress and living standards. Schreiter reveals how intra-German and European trade policies drove the creation of products and generated a certain convergence of East and West German taste by the 1980s. Drawing on a wide range of sources from governments, furniture firms, industrial design councils, home lifestyle magazines, and design exhibitions, Designing One Nation argues that an economic culture linked the two Germanies even before reunification in 1990.
A guide to green woodworking, with detailed patterns to create beautiful projects. Discover hundreds of projects for working with unseasoned wood in this essential book. Ray Tabor, an unparalleled expert in green woodworking guides you through this old, traditional craft. Whether you are new to the craft and are looking for a simple project like a spoon or a bowl or want something challenging, you will find it here. The 300 patterns for the home and garden range from wattle gates to lemon juicers, from chairs, benches and stools to baskets, whistles and door wedges. Green woodworking involves the use of freshly felled timber (unseasoned wood), and embraces a number of traditional woodland crafts, including turning and carving. All patterns come with detailed dimensions in both metric and imperial. Each item has annotated black-and-white patterns, a brief description, historical information and details of the materials that should be used. Includes the simplest of woodland designs to more advanced, with something to suit every skill level. Both a historical record and a sourcebook for those looking to use their green woodworking skills to make traditional items of beauty, this is the perfect book for anyone interested in whittling, woodland crafts and woodworking.
Co-published in Association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London This book is a timely and engaging introduction to the way that artists working in all media think about craft. Workmanship is key to today's visual arts, when high 'production values' are becoming increasingly commonplace. Yet craft's centrality to contemporary art has received little serious attention from critics and historians. Dispensing with cliched arguments that craft is art, Adamson persuasively makes a case for defining craft in a more nuanced fashion. The interesting thing about craft, he argues, is that it is perceived to be 'inferior' to art. The book consists of an overview of various aspects of this second-class identity - supplementarity, sensuality, skill, the pastoral, and the amateur. It also provides historical case studies analysing craft's role in a variety of disciplines, including architecture, design, contemporary art, and the crafts themselves. Thinking Through Craft will be essential reading for anyone interested in craft or the broader visual arts.
Add instant eco-chic street fashion to any outfit with friendship bracelets Get that trendy bohemian look with bountiful, bright colors on your arms and wrists. Inside you ll find dozens of stylish designs and easy techniques for making beautiful bracelets with embroidery floss and hemp."Friendship Bracelets" offers fresh ideas for expressing yourself with the texture and beauty of intricate knotwork. You ll find cool patterns here for making chevrons, stripes, waves, diamonds, and more, with step-by-step instructions for each knot pattern. Gorgeous color photographs illustrate variations in every style, from classic and natural to playful and eclectic.Stack your bracelets for a boho arm party, and embellish them with beads and buttons. Learn how to make inexpensive hemp jewelry in fun colors, inspired by laidback hippie vibes. Transform ordinary friendship bracelets from middle school memories to chic contemporary pieces you ll be proud to wear. Whether you re going bohemian, mod, or all-out fashionista, "Friendship Bracelets" will help you to create exactly the look you want." |
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