This article is part of the Design Special Section on Respect for Handmade Objects.
Today, around the world where artists still deal with technology in which pandemic isolation and preconceptions, we are seeing a robust revival of home crafts. Below are some new objects from the established leader of the pack.
Step on it
Philadelphia-based Claudia Mills began by weaving lagrags from recycled fabrics. Today, she works with new cotton, so her work is machine washable. The rug can be used for interior decorations or hung as art, but everything is done on foot. “We send all the rugs from here with non-skinned pads,” she said. From $195 for a 2-foot square foot to $1,360 for a 2-by-8-foot runner. Custom design costs $95 per square foot. Claudiamills.com
After her self-proclaimed failure as an actress, Shelley Simpson began playing with Clay in a backyard shed in Melbourne, Australia. Thirty years later, her company Mud Australia employs 80 people to produce handmade tableware. Portable and rechargeable pop lamps are handmade from a single piece of porcelain. Available in 6 colors for $520. Mudaustralia.com
Delicate balance
Born in Japan and educated in London, Takada Hiroko came to New York in 2001 to collaborate with renowned textile artist Jack Renner Larsen. In 2010, she opened her own studio in Brooklyn. This creates artworks and fabrics for your interior. (A solo exhibition of her work is on display at Chelsea's Hunter Dunbar Project until April 19th.) One of her latest textiles, macarons, a thick wool slabyard, twisted and interlaced to create airy panels. The fabric is 48 inches wide and costs $500 per yard. hirokotakeda.com
Fuzzy logic
Former technology marketing executive Jessica Switzer Green moved to a farm in Sonoma County, California in 2018, where she worked with local sheep in love with Wool. She founded JG Switzer and produced hand-made fabrics, blankets and pillows using techniques she described as “drawing with wool.” The Shetland Cloud reversible throw is around 70 x 50 inches and $895, while the black saffron hand felt pillow is 36 x 28 inches and $780. jgswitzer.com
Andrew Inanzi began blowing glasses as a student in upstate New York and opened his studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2013, but his craft is a major growth in European traditions, particularly the 800-year-old glass industry on Murano, Venice. Iannuzzi described his squirting bowl as “retro,” inspired by humble kitchen household items from his youth. Available in three sizes, ranging from $185 to $325. Vitriccaiannazzi.com
Knots and everything
The latest work by furniture maker Chris Rekke, who has been in business for nearly 40 years, celebrates catalpa, ambrosia maple, black walnut and turkey feathers. He said he loves everything about those trees, including their flaws: “Maybe as I get older, I feel more connected to the flaws.” His turkey feathered screen with handmade steel knuckle hinges costs 60 x 72 inches and $11,000. ralphpucci.com
Cash and Carry
Inspired by the baskets of French fishermen seen at a Danish museum, Portland, Oregon artist Zac Matheson designed a basket of upcycled materials, including leather-trimmed plastic zip ties and polyethylene fencing. He began selling baskets on rooms and boards in 2020, and two years ago he handed the production to Softline, a Minneapolis company. The basket, known as Fletcher, comes in five sizes and costs between $99 and $159. roomandboard.com
The other side is attractive
Ceramic artist Jennifer Falter, who worked with a technique known as Sgraffito, founded a studio in Springfield, Missouri in 1998 and with her husband Nathan Falter, shaves off the liquid clay coating to expose the solid layer below. “It gave me the strongest contrast, so I settled on working in black and white,” she said. Her $425 ginkgo vase is 10 inches tall and 8 inches in diameter. springfieldpottery.com
After all these years, steel crazy
Founded in 1845, Shin In-Young's Iron Monger Shop is the oldest in Korea. Using metal from the tracks of discarded trains, Master Singh, who began his family-run apprenticeship at the age of 13 in 1966, creates an assortment of kitchen and gardening tools, including this carving set with chestnut or oak handles on a knife and fork. (Carbon steel knife blades only need to be shaved every 2-3 years.) The set wrapped in a leather pouch costs $620. ameico.com
