Collect is spreading its wings
Impressions of the Collect in the Saatchi Gallery, London. All Pictures Crafts Council.
Notes from Marjan Unger
Collect 2010, the craft fair that aims to lure collectors from many corners of the world to London, has been quite a successful event. Collectors came, from the United States, Italy and from many museums in the UK, and they bought as well.
This year was the second year Collect was held in the Saatchi Gallery at the Duke of York Square, at Kings Road and near Sloane Square, a fashionable part of London. Before that, it was held in the exhibition rooms of the Victoria & Albert Museum, which gave this ambitious enterprise of the Crafts Council by doing so its valuable blessing and a certain aura. The space in the V & A was a bit cramped, and the white spaces of the Saatchi Gallery were a big change. There was so much space, that many of the presentations and objects in 2009 seemed a bit lost. This year, the fair was held on two floors only, which gave it more coherence and substance than last year. With this strong basis, Collect was able to break out of the confines of the Saatchi Gallery. In he Collect Trail, eight emerging makers were linked with a handful of the capital’s leading retailers on Kings Road. A series of talks was held too.
So between 14–17th of May, works of 400 different artists were shown by 36 galleries. Jewellery was very strong, but surprisingly, there was a lot of textile work and in the UK, there is always a strong focus on ceramics and glass. There was good silver and Galerie Rosemarie Jäger from Germany showed for example a big table with a mixture of cups in metal, glass and ceramics. The furniture you see in a craft fair like Collect is mostly woodwork, and quite traditional woodwork at that.
On the whole, the impression was of a treasure trove, with many good pieces to have in close range, in your house as well on your body. There were pieces according to many different tastes, and to my opinion, that is a reflection of the hectic times we live in as well. Many works are put together of many different pieces, colours and materials, and quite a lot with found objects. There is a hesitation in that approach, that makes you wonder who will be coming forward with strong statements and shapes. Among the jewellers, Bernhard Schobinger always does, and so Dorothea Prühl. Among the new work of younger artists, I liked the work of Jantje Fleischhut because it was so sculptural and the different materials, including plastic, were working together really well. It had a sense of adventure that contrasted with the reflective and even retrospective mood that characterised most of the fair.
Although the Crafts Council deserves to be complemented on the fact that Collect has found a new basis and is spreading its wings, there is one thing that irritates me a lot. In the UK, there is a long tradition in the crafts, with many world famous makers; there are good museums with collections of Crafts, there are many good department at respected colleges and universities; good books are being published, like Richard Sennet’s ‘The Craftsman’ from 2008, and still, in its own booklet about Collect the Crafts Council chooses a defensive attitude on craft. The quote from a text of Glenn Adamson in this publication, and suggest that craft is seen ‘as the nerds at the school disco, hanging around on the edges of the dancefloor while all the attention goes to its more glamorous classmates fine art and design’. By always positioning themselves between these two ‘bigger brothers’, they overlook to define the best in their field from the heart and from the most worthwhile elements/ingredients, instead of making the fist that should be the intention of Collect.
