Pricing now available to view online for Turning Pendant – starting at £200!

Hi Everybody,

Just a quick message to let you know that pricing information is now available online at www.sophieashby.com for the Turning Pendants in 9ct gold or sterling silver. Of course, the options and extras are endless and the necklaces can be made in any metal, with any chain and even with inset diamonds/semi-precious stones so please don’t hesitate to get in touch for further pricing enquiries.

With prices starting at £200, the Turning Pendant makes the perfect Christmas present for any lucky lady!

Love to all,

Sophie Ashby Designs

info@sophieashby.com

www.sophieashby.com 

http://www.sophieashby.com/

I have just launched my new website www.sophieashby.com to showcase the debut design from my new jewellery line – The Turning Pendant.

I designed the necklace a few years ago for my 21st as I wanted something unique and personalised. Everything about the necklace can be designed to suit you – from the metal (yellow gold, rose gold, white gold, platinum, silver), the length and style of chain, to the type of engraving…even the faces can be made of a semi-precious stone of your choice.

I am working on other pieces at the moment and will hopefully be adding them to the ‘line’ soon!

Please take a look and spread the word to anyone you might know looking for a luxury, bespoke necklace for a special occasion!

Tee-off your day with a spot of daydreaming…

Graphic designer Thibaud Cartigny's 'Dream Rider'

I sometimes have these moments in which I imagine that I am looking down on earth as an alien on a spaceship, or from a fluffy cloud in an azure sky – and I just keep having this reoccurring thought: ‘what are they doing?’. I don’t have these daydreams when I am performing some base requirement our functional lives demands of us, but rather when I observe something (or a process) that is so manmade or manufactured it is verging on bizarre upon reflection of it.

 

I was recently in a swish ‘golf bar’ – the technical name escapes me but I refer to the meeting place where the happy swingers break to wolf down a club sandwich and laboriously discuss the last nine holes. Studying these seemingly nice folk, clad in their practical waterproof gear, I couldn’t help consider the craziness of it all: they had trudged around a perfectly pruned, vividly green, artificially trimmed terrain (luminescent among the rugged dusty landscape), dodging infrequent little blobs of sand and water scattered about, wielding a long thin stick, clobbering a titchy dimpled ball about. At the time this seemed absolutely insane to me, a virtual, pretend world.

   

I really have nothing against golf; in fact it is a sport (on rare occasions) that I enjoy. This world we have designed for ourselves on planet earth is simply weird – especially in the Western world where there is money to fund the latest crazes. It is a long old winding road to lucubrate the path from cavemen in loincloths wielding batons to race-car driving (going round and round extremely fast in a noisy slither of metal).  

In determining the omnipresence of design in contemporary life a wide range of doors are opened into a world of uncertainties, attractions and questions. Design consciousness operates at a low-level, what we experience is ultimately a fleeting sense of pleasure. For me the consciousness of design is a critical activity of the value of design. In the words of one of my favourite writers Alain de Botton, design ’can arrest transient and timid inclinations, amplify and solidify them, and thereby grant us more permanent access to a range of emotional textures which we might otherwise have experienced accidentally and occasionally’. (The Architecture of Happiness) 

Functionality and happiness are bound together in a strangely antagonistic way. More often than not however design goes completely unnoticed; perhaps because you are committing yourself to a lifetime of choices if it becomes something you begin to entertain. To be permanently aware of design would be paralysing; we are limited most of the time to our design consciousness simply kicking in as a critique of functionality - which is most often suppressed. Normally functionality sidelines design.   

It seems that when it comes to design, it is a case of a choice between or, in rarer cases a perfect balance of functionality and form.  To experience a design consciousness of form, functionality has must be switched off. On the upside, and I am not verging on design conscious paralysis here, but if this is achieved an amusing new perspective on things can be ascertained after a little daydreaming.

A rebellion against beige ‘blandscaping’ – Design Art.

In September 2009 I persuaded my doting little sister to be my date to the V&A to see the Telling Tales exhibition. A showcase of works by artists from the Carpenters Workshop Gallery it featured talents such as: Demakersvan, Vincent Dubourg, Maarten Baas, Sebastian Brajkovic, Atelier Van Lieshout and Random International.

The movers, makers and shakers of this high-end, sculptural art extend the constraints of design by marrying and exceeding the categories of the conceptual and the functional. This relatively new ‘movement’ has lead to the coining of a new phrase to describe this trendy tribe of artists, craftsmen and designers  – ‘design art’. The tension this union creates is manifested in curious objects, particularly furniture, that challenge the accepted typecasts of design pieces. ‘Design art’ confronts the idea of functional sculpture: and the product of this new attention is enlightened and contemporary.

Lathe VIII by Sebastian Brajkovic

Lathe I by Sebastian Brajkovic

Telling Tales, according to the press release by the V&A, was an exposition of designers who ‘explore the narrative potential of objects, connecting the past with the present’. Divided into three chapters the exhibition took you on a fantastical journey through the whimsical worlds of The Forest Glade, The Enchanted Castle and Heaven and Hell. A fusion of happily-ever-after, fairy-tale fantasy style furniture with cupboards that could convincingly lead you to Narnia and Turkish delight, to overgrown chairs and rugs that belong in Alice’s Wonderland, the array of works was fascinating and inspired.

Abilene Rocking Chair by Wendell Castle

Brainchild of French duo Julien Lombrail and Loïc Le Gaillard, The Carpenters Workshop gallery has opened my eyes to a new design aesthetic. In their presentation of a varied and rich array of well-known artists such as Mark Quinn, Ron Arad and Ingrid Donat as well as up-and-coming talents such as Wendell Castle, Sebastian Brajkovic and Demakersvan, they have caused a surge in interest in the niche market of collectors craving a synthesis between design functionality and the freedom of art. I am on tenterhooks in anticipation of their next move.

Bronze Cabinet Socle Klimt by Ingrid Donat

What is exciting about ‘design art’ is the gaping distance between its message and the ‘blandscaping’ that has crept into our lives. Be it down to the planning authorities or the estate agents – or probably more appropriately ourselves in a quest for ease and simplicity – it has recently become clear to me that beige seems to be taking over.  This ‘beige’ epidemic, the creeping identikit dullness of predictable white wash walls, beige carpets, a beige sofa, maybe a mocha cushion and a move lamp eliminates the element of personality. What is memorable about beige? I am attracted to the humour and spunk that Brajkovic embraces – the designs leave an impression whilst offering a sensual experience. Instead of being safe, insipid and basically mild (like beige –which doubles as an insulting slang word to describe someone’s personality in the US) ‘design art’ encourages a new, more soulful, approach to life.

Marble Cinderella Table by Demakersvan

The Carpenters Workshop Gallery – 3 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4HE.

http://carpentersworkshopgallery.com/index.php?lang=uk&idmenu=2b10b199

Bad design at Christmas time

As the last of the Christmas decorations return to the attic suddenly the house looks uncluttered again. It struck me that Christmas – which being a most enjoyable occasion – is sadly also a time of truly terrible design.

Good design to put on your wish list for next Christmas - Ceramic Speakers Designed by SF-based industrial designer Joey Roth, available from Gselect.

Take the humble table cracker with all its sparkly bits and promise of a wanted gift, funny joke and wearable hat. As the pathetically crafted yoyo fell into my lap after a tussle of sibling rivalry, I realised that I hadn’t really been elated about winning the bulbous end of a cracker for at least ten years. Not only was the paper crown of Lilliputian dimensions, the joke surely had to been have lost in translation and the yoyo was reduced to the sum of its parts once removed from its paper pouch.  How simple can it be to make a working yoyo? I felt annoyed – deprived of the opportunity to stroll down memory lane and rediscover ‘walking the dog’, ‘around the world’ in front of my swollen family!  Perhaps none of the Christmas cracker’s contents are designed ever to be used, it just has make a jolly little bang before it hits the bin liner with all the other festive paraphernalia.

Another object of desire and a great example of a classic redesigned - Fuji Instax Instant Camera available from Urban Outiftters.

And the rant doesn’t really stop here. I usually get at least one ridiculous gadget at Christmas, most years it is some sort of table-top, scaled down form of game – carpet bowls or mini-putt-putt. However, this year an old friend trumped me with a…. swivelling fork (!)… To make the strenuous chore of eating spaghetti that bit more bearable. It saddens me that some wave of insanity overrides shopper’s better judgement at Christmas time and the people producing the tat get lucky.

While we are on the subject of Christmas hindering ones sensibility, at no other time of year would anyone wear a loud green and red itchy wool jumper with a reindeer prancing across it. At no other time of year would anybody in their right mind attach all-singing-all-dancing Santa miniatures to their ear lobes. At no other time of year would anyone purchase a battery operated singing trout to ‘Wish you a Merry Christmas’ (an item I genuinely saw in an actual shop with an actual price tag stuck to its silicone scales).

To me, M&S is the iconic Christmas store. Every year, Mother Santa has earned her loyalty points by finding us the perfect gift that will last for years – the cashmere sweater, the silky loungewear, that leather jewellery box. Into the conscience assuaging dumping ground – the charity shop – goes the wriggling robot guinea pig, the Tamagochi, the nylon, ‘Groovy Chick’ top. I actually felt embarrassed to be donating these unwanted gifts – or was I recycling waste?

It's time for a change - perhaps in the form of this retro Analogue FLAP clock from Habitat

So, I try pretty hard not to buy the useless gadgets and gizmos (so often made by Santa’s little helpers in China) that flood the market in the run up to Christmas – but wouldn’t it be nice if they just weren’t there in the first place? There would be no need to wrestle with one’s design consciousness. If this were the case there wouldn’t be a pile of pointless cracker toys on the kitchen table right now… a comb fit for a squirrel or a necklace not even a five year old would don. Landfill!

Check out: Cool Hunting, a great website that does just want it says on the packet – http://www.coolhunting.com/

‘Reach for the stars’… but do it for something worthwhile.

Homo Sapiens are a very ambitious, determined and strong-minded species. We rule the world: we created weapons (of mass destruction), we started wars, famines, poverty… we invented the aeroplane, nuclear power, Primark, the television, and Superman. We’ve been to the moon, we know a lot about dinosaurs, cavemen, the ancient Egyptians; it would seem that nothing apart from natural disasters can threaten our existence but man himself. As we develop, particularly in Western culture, we push ourselves on the treadmill that is driven by success. This is measured by a high quality consumer lifestyle rather than a high moral code. There is a train of thought that follows if you want something bad enough, ‘go and get it’- because you can have it. Anything is possible. This survival of the fittest/ quickest/ smartest/ prettiest theory is attractive because it enables more people to achieve their dreams. Supposedly, if you want to be a millionaire – you can ‘make it happen’ – if you ‘reach for the stars’ you will be rewarded if you deserve it. But where does this leave those who don’t and can’t get there? What about those people who have tried but failed – why do their attempts not merit success?  This in reality is an intensely cruel way of thinking and does nothing but elevate those already on track for the top (or their idea of achieving something) and demoralize and punish those at the metaphorical bottom.

There is a new order, the class system that used to rule the world is disappearing and in its place a freedom for anyone to be in the driving seat and at the forefront of commerce and industry is possible. But what are we achieving by allowing ‘anybody’ to be a ‘somebody’? A bunch of talentless z-listers who want a piece of the action – Big Brother, I’m a Celebrity, X-factor, Britain’s got Talent are the ugly factories churning out these people. It’s a cop out and essentially the people who do ‘reach for the stars’ and get what they want are the minority… (Thank God). The celebrity culture we have fostered over the last 100 years will, I hope, be a source of shame and embarrassment in the future.

The only thing in the world that humans can look to in order to feel humbled and in awe of or something other than us is nature. Humans have looked to nature throughout history in an effort to understand a greater force – the only entity other than ‘us’ capable of destruction on such a penetrable level. We are totally fixated with nature programs, we travel far and wide to see nature’s great events and now that global warming and climate change threaten our future, a surge in effort has come about to protect our world. As the human being becomes more and more sophisticated, powerful and destructive perhaps we should look to the design of nature to inspire us, or to remind us, that we are not in control of everything. Nature shrinks as rainforests are obliterated, clouds are injected with chemicals to change the weather forecast and ski slopes are erected in the Dubai Desert. It is now that nature emerges in the world of the poet as an idea, or as Schiller once said ‘We can expect that the nation which has gone the farthest towards unnatural would have to be touched most strongly by the phenomenon of the naïve.’  As urbanisation, industrialisation, global development and Cultural Revolution continue to dominate we turn to nature to situate ourselves and remind our kind that we are not really in charge here.

Dancepants convert kinetic energy from running or dancing into electricity for your MP3 player.

Design is one of the most valuable tools mankind has at its fingertips. Whilst design has enabled us to irreversibly damage our Universe through CO2 emissions and toxic waste – design will also be our savior in rescuing it. Great design doesn’t just need to be a means of expressing ourselves. We need inventors and designers who will change our current state. In The Times Magazine today there was an article on those doing just that: the man developing breeding programmes to conserve species – Andrew Grey, the man changing plants into charcoal to take CO2 out of the atmosphere – Chris Turney. These scientists are the people who should be remembered forever. They are saving the ‘common man’ for little financial gain; what has Kerry Katona done for anyone? Zilch.

Uniqlo's HeatTech Clothing Creates Heat From Your Sweat

When I read about what the glitterati ‘superforce’ have: how many houses, jets, watches and wardrobes they own it makes me feel nauseous. Whoever could need so much stuff?  We can all only wear one outfit at a time, one watch, live in one house, and drive one car. If you believe in the mantra ‘anything is possible’, then lets hope that those who can, make it matter.

The Dada Spirit

The Dadaists held anarchic views, ridiculing traditional ideas of form and beauty in the accepted art media of painting and sculpture and introduced new techniques such as collage, photomontage and ready-mades. Dada, formed in response to the catastrophic effects of World War I (1914-1918), gave artists the opportunity to portray the senseless destruction caused by the collision of super powers and their vicious arsenal in modern war. Traditional art forms were too establishment based to convey the Dadaist message of disapproval; Dada was anti-aesthetic, anti-establishment.

Raoul Hausmann, ABCD, 1923-1924

Today, more than eighty years later, the image of Dada is still full of contradictions. This is not surprising as the Dadaists invited, or rather defied, the world to misunderstand – gleefully fostering confusion. This was done with caprice and from a principle of contradiction. Dada was not an artistic movement in the accepted sense; it questioned the fundamentals of the old order  – the art world would never be the same again.

There were no unified formal characteristics, as in other styles, but it had a new artistic ethic from which, in unforeseen ways, a nihilistic means of expression emerged. The new ethic took sometimes positive, sometimes a negative form, often appearing as art and then again as the negation of art, at times deeply moral and at other times totally amoral.

The line dividing Dada and Pop Art is faint; Pop Art in many ways continued the work of such anti aesthetic traditions as Realism and Dadaism. Just consider Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe images  – the effect was mind-blowingly new and startling. His art begs us to question our preconceived vision of her, Warhol reacted to everything that had gone before him and changed the viewer’s image of what had been accepted – and expected.  Warhol used mechanical reproduction of photos of iconic images, with a crude application of synthetic colour to create images of morbidity – Marilyn Monroe after her suicide, Jackie Kennedy after the assassination of JFK. Warhol turns aesthetics into anesthetics.

Andy Warhol 'Jackie Kennedy' 1964 print

In one of their many manifestos the Dadaists proclaimed “art had become a debased currency, just a matter for the connoisseur whose taste was merely dependent on habit”. In Walter Benjamin’s philosophical text on The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction he talks about something he calls as ‘aura’. An ‘aura’ is not necessarily intrinsic to the object but is indicative of art’s traditional association with patronage, the primitive, power, religious, mythological or feudal qualities. Writing at the dawn of mass mechanical reproduction, as well as new forms of art such as film, for Benjamin the ‘original’ was lost. Instead “mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual” and the ‘aura’ was lost.

The Dada spirit was nihilistic and destructive and led the art world into realms of imagination and innovation never seen before. Dadaists such as Duchamp, Ball and Arp, followed by the Pop artists Warhol, Hockney and Lichtenstein transformed the art world- we simply would not have Tracy Emin, Damien Hirst, Mark Quinn, William Eggleston and Banksy without them.

Architects come furniture designers: The Barcelona Chair.

It is my opinion that the most well known, most frequently copied and most beautifully structures chairs ever designed were created by highly disciplined architects. I think that this has to do with their knowledge of proportions, spatial conscious, visionary mindset and attention to detail. Frank Lloyd Wright and Rennie Mackintosh didn’t stop at museums, hotels, galleries and resorts, they went on to design the furniture too and today architect Zaha Hadid is pioneering in design and holds a totally varied portfolio of achievements.

Zaha Hadid's Bench

Zaha Hadid for Lacoste

For Frank Lloyd Wright, harmony was the key. He custom-designed his furnishings for the spaces they would occupy. It is difficult to imagine nurturing a concept which started life as a small brainwave into a huge monument to architecture- the blood, sweat and tears which I can only assume goes into designing a building would make it impossible to just hand over the reigns in the final stages.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Barrel Chair

Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous architecture venture Falling Water.

On a trip to the Austrian and German art gallery NEUE in New York this August I encountered my first real, genuine, non-knock-off Barcelona chair. One of the two originals made its was striking to witness it in person. I love the feeling of standing in front of a painting, sculpture, building or in this case chair, that you have admired afar through books and websites for hours before. Whilst I remember being disappointed to finally confront the Mona Lisa (it’s miniscule) I still felt my heart leap at seeing it ‘in the flesh’ as it were, a painting I must have seen hundreds of various reproductions of. It’s a bit like seeing a celebrity, you feel like you know them because you have watched them and studied them through hours of film, magazines or television. For example, I really feel like I know Tim Henman and Hugh Grant, I have sympathized with them, loved them, hated them, wanted to hug them and wanted to slap them over the years… those have got to be the telltale signs of a true relationship. Similarly, I am so familiar with the Barcelona chair that to meet the original was to experience a true moment of happiness.

The Barcelona Chair - licensed to manufacture by Knoll. Van der Rohe's mantra was allegedly “God is in the details”.

Mies van der Rohe - Farnsworth House

For years I have been fascinated by the Barcelona chair’s iconic reputation and I have noticed its presence worldwide. For a time most of the hotel foyers, nightclubs, lounges and easy-listening bars you went to had some sort of furniture copied from Mies van der Rohe’s design. It was made in 1929 to go into van der Rohe’s German Pavilions at the Barcelona Exposition and the Spanish King was to reside there. It had to be elegant and monumental because of its final destination and Mies van der Rohe certainly delivered. The Bauhaus movement, in full flow at the time, supported the design of functional, mass-produced furniture aimed to the ‘common man’, furniture was required to be inexpensive and utilitarian but the Barcelona chair didn’t quite match these criteria (luckily). Today it is still expensive just to buy a good quality knock-off but this pays homage to Mies van der Rohe’s ability as a designer to incorporate sculptural elements into a functional object, as the Barcelona chair has been in production for over 80 years.

Colin McMaster and me

A few years ago my sister’s husband introduced me to the artist Colin McMaster. I was about to study Fine Art myself. Art had been my ‘thing’ my entire school life, I was fiercely competitive (and unnecessarily so as nobody seemed to care as much as I did anyway). I was OK at sport – despite what my friends will tell you – but I regard it more as a conscious decision I made to veer away from the scratchy drama involved in trying to wriggle my way into the netball team (albeit for the least crucial role of ‘GK’) choosing instead to focus my talents on becoming an ‘artiste’. It would seem that people are keen to ascribe personal attributes to some hereditary link between you and a parent, so in the interest of keeping you satisfied, I can safely tell you that this ‘artistic flare’ I claim to possess came from my mother. A talented sculptor today, her resume has included a vast array of pursuits and the success of most can be accredited to her creative mind. From being a fashion buyer, to running a jewellery business, to transforming a vineyard from dilapidated to award wining (and much more) she has attacked each venture with an inspired outlook as well as a mass of pretty impressive brainpower and gusto!

So I arrived with reams of confidence and enthusiasm at Leeds, signed up and ready for my Fine Art degree. The studio at school was my home away from home at boarding school and a welcome safe haven from the teenage saga of good times and heartache that ensued as a result of being in a year of over 300 boys and girls. It was bliss to be so confident in my ability to do something- incredible teachers and plenty of spoon-feeding and flattery had meant that I truly believed in myself. Moments of confidence and self-assuredness should not be underrated; they are transitory and rare but when they crop up they should be relished… stored up ammo to wing at the curveballs of insecurity and doubt that too often can plague ones mind late at night.

Sadly, the Fine Art course at Leeds was not what I had expected, nor what I wanted out of an Art degree so I changed to History of Art. In hindsight the intelligent thing to have done would have been to go to a well-respected art college with a history of teaching applied arts, but at the time all I truthfully wanted from University were the experiences that I knew came with student life at Leeds. Hindsight is a beautiful thing. I am constantly making whimsical statements about what could have been or what I should have done. However, just recently someone motivated me to think ahead – he provided me with a realistic grasp of my situation, a metaphorical, much needed, slap around the face… In essence -I am young and I have plenty of time ahead of me to do everything that I want to do. He was right; it seems shamefully overdramatic to assign myself to a life of one thing if I want another at this stage in my humble existence.

Hence the dawning of this blog. So back to Colin McMaster. I met him in his studio, a small shared space in Peckham with all the ingredients you would hope to find in a budding artists den. As soon as I saw one of his vast paintings propped against a wall I was totally bowled over by his unique style. His paintings have a photograph like quality in their realism but the characters are stylized enough to take you further in. He had taken idealized portraits of people in society and exaggerated their identities. He paints social stereotypes, a blond bombshell or a ‘fashionista’. He told me that he works from an image in his mind but uses props and accessories from his wife’s business to capture the subtle realism that makes the viewer believe and empathise with each subject. The paintings are seductive, erotic, enticing and wrought with attitude and style. McMaster graduated from Central St Martin’s College in London and whilst still a student he won an award for his work as part of the Royal Ulster Academy Competition in his native Belfast. A remarkably talented and skilled artist and a personable, friendly and engaging man to sit and talk to – Colin McMaster’s paintings make me happy.

To see more of his work follow this link:

http://www.colouredrain.com/searchresults.asp?ArtistID=141

http://www.thecentralhouse.com/artist/colin_mcmaster.htm

Shoe Sculpture

Junk Dunk Nike trainers are lovingly made by metal artist Gabriel Dishaw

“I begin each sculpture with an idea of how can I take these found pieces of useless metal and insignificant objects and create something that everyone can understand and relate to,” Dishaw says. “I find myself looking at ordinary mechanical items to see how I could turn that something, into something else not originally intended for that use.”

So today I give you an example of design which has given me a true moment of happiness. These trainers express so much about our culture; the world of nike trainers (a world I have not muscled into yet for fear of failure in my transition from safe, solid, brown ground  to murky, neon waters) is difficult to enter into without the time to commit. There is just so much to learn, it’s like developing a love for a new music genre, there is so much material, so many artists, songs, versions, DJs, mixes that it feels safer to stick to what you know. If I were to develop a sudden love for house music for example I would need to surf the web, itunes and Ibiza lovers websites for literally days to feel I could muster up enough of a knowledge base to hold my own with a devoted House music fan. However, whilst I am not part of the Nike High-tops club, I can appreciate a beautifully created piece of sculpture which is what Gabriel Dishaw has undoubtedly invented here. The website www.ecouterre.com has to be one of the most inspiring sites I have  found so far for genuinely innovative, truly fresh fashion with an eco/green stamp on it. It is getting easier now but it used to be a bit of a challenge to find interesting clothing and shoes with an ethical message, often the affordable organic clothes are shapeless and itchy and high end designer pieces come with astronomical price tags. Whilst many of the items are showpieces and unavailable to buy on ecouterre it is encouraging and inspiring to be able to read about people who are paving the way for eco design – making items as desirable as the latest high fashion brands.