Stay ConnectedIn Material Matters, host Grant Gibson talks to a designer, maker, artist, architect, engineer, or scientist about a material or technique with which they’re intrinsically linked and discovers how it changed their lives and careers.
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Copyright: © 2021 Material Matters with Grant Gibson
Bill Amberg was the first ever guest on the Material Matters podcast. The renowned leather designer is arguably best known for his bags but over the years he has increasingly worked on architectural projects with the likes of David Chipperfield at the RA and MUMA at Westminster Abbey. He is a master of his craft and a really good bloke to boot.
In this episode we talked about his upbringing in Northampton (did you know his mum used to work with Alvar Aalto?), learning his trade in Australia, forging a business in London during the ’80s, his love of architecture, and, most importantly, his life-long relationship with leather.
Oh we also had a quick chat about how he ended up working on oil rigs in the North Sea. You can find out more about Bill and his extraordinary studio here: www.billamberg.com
Every now and again I break the format of the podcast and speak to a critic or someone who can provide an overview of the field. In series one I featured the New York-based curator and commentator Glenn Adamson. The fact that he also had a new book out – entitled Fewer Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects – was an added bonus.
I think it’s safe to say that we cover a fair amount of turf in our conversation: the relationship between academia and craft, the role of museums in our digital age, middle class consumption, and how his grandfather Arthur became a rocket scientist (I know what you’re thinking but he really did). The thread running through all this is the importance of what he describes as ‘material intelligence’. Incidentally did you know that Glenn can play the Irish pipes? No, me neither.
You can find out more about Glenn and his work here: glennadamson.com
Peter Layton is one of the pioneers of the British studio glass movement.
During our interview Peter recounts an extraordinary life that has included fleeing Eastern Europe from the Nazis and settling as an immigrant in Bradford, studying ceramics under the likes of Ruth Duckworth (and not Dickinson as your tongue-tied host accidentally said) at the Central School of Art and Design, meeting the wildly influential glass artist Harvey Littleton while he was teaching in the US, and burning himself badly the first time he ever tried to work with the material.
Naturally enough he discusses his love of glass but, perhaps as importantly, how he has managed to keep his workshop and gallery London Glassblowing – employing 10 other makers – going successfully in the heart of a city intent on gentrification. It’s really quite inspiring.
Incidentally did you know that Peter’s son, Bart, wrote and directed the absolutely brilliant heist movie American Animals, which was released in 2018? They are one of those annoyingly talented families evidently.
You can find out more about Peter and London Glassblowing here: londonglassblowing.co.uk
Celia Pym is an artist who has taken darning out of the domestic sphere and into galleries and museums. In this episode we chat about a career that has encompassed studying sculpture at Harvard via jobs in teaching and nursing – as well as a stint at the Royal College of Art – to being a finalist of the Woman’s Hour Craft Prize in 2018.
One of the intriguing elements of Pym’s work is that she uses the process of darning and the objects that are brought to her to get to know people. As she told me in our discussion: ‘Early on I heard tons of stories about grief and I wasn’t sure if that was to do with me or the way I was asking the question… I realised it’s the damage that interested me sometimes more than the repair. I wondered if subconsciously I’d been communicating that. Instead of showing me a hole, I was saying show me the damage.’ Her story of how she started to repair her late great uncle’s jumper is genuinely emotional.
You can find out more about Celia here: celiapym.com
Edmund de Waal is that rarest of creatures, a potter who has broken out of the crafts world into the fine art market. He also happens to be a best-selling author of books such as The Hare with Amber Eyes and The White Road as well as a lucid and thoughtful speaker and curator. His work has been shown around the world in places such as the RA, Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, the V&A and the Ateneo Veneto in Venice. His first set design featured in the 2017/18 Season at the Royal Opera House for Yugen, a new ballet by choreographer Wayne McGregor.
In this episode we talk about a childhood he has described as ‘odd’ (the Pope and Princess Diana both came around the house but not at the same time apparently), the relationship between making and writing, dealing with critics, and why some pots are ‘needy’. The thread running through it all is his love of the white stuff – in his case, porcelain.
You can find out more about Edmund’s work here: edmunddewaal.com
Eleanor Lakelin appeared on in the first series of Material Matters and is one of the UK’s leading woodturners, concentrating on making an array of vessels since 2011. As she explains: ‘I’m fascinated by wood as a living, breathing substance with its own history of growth and struggle centuries beyond our own. I’m particularly inspired by the organic mayhem and creative possibilities of burred wood. This proliferation of cells, formed over decades or even centuries as a reaction to stress or as a healing mechanism is a rare, mysterious and beautiful act of nature.’
During our chat Eleanor tells me about her childhood growing up in North Wales, why she initially decided to take up teaching, her early career as a furniture maker, and how a visit to the Collect fair changed her life.
Most importantly though we talked timber and her fascination with the material. Oddly we also managed to touch on dentistry too.
To find out more about Eleanor and her work here: eleanorlakelin.com
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