Fashion Historian, Dr Kate Strasdin Chooses 5 Favourites from Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey
Written: 18 April 2019
News from the Capital of Craft...
Read on for our next 5 Favourites, this time from Fashion Historian and Lecturer Dr Kate Strasdin, those workshops need booking and don’t forget to register to volunteer.
We’re lucky to work with a wide variety of people at the Craft Festival. Dr Kate Strasdin is Senior Lecturer specialising in pre-1900 Fashion History at Falmouth University and Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts. She has helped select a number of our shows over the years and we’re so pleased that she has cast her very discerning eye over this year’s exhibitors. Here are her 5 Favourites
As a dress and textile historian, the storytelling inherent in fabric is really important to me so I am a bit biased about this one. However, repurposing fabric scraps into beautiful contemporary quilts is a timely approach to our concerns around textile waste so this is the best of old and new together.
The natural palette and rich glazes of William's ceramics remind me of old Moroccan techniques with a shine like a pool of water. The patterns on his recent work and the rawness of the finish have a medical quality, a centuries old aesthetic.
I have lived on the edge of Dartmoor all of my life and the landscapes have been there as a backdrop through thick and thin. Luna North's printmaking captures a different Westcountry moorland, based on Exmoor, but her subjects and the lovely shades in her printmaking bring me home.
I am a bit of a mid-century modern fan and Rachel's sculptural contemporary jewellery has echoes of that kind of aesthetic in her work. The layering of different pieces and her interest in collaborating with the client to create a piece that is embedded with meaning just adds to the gorgeousness.
I covet an ash basket! The uniformity of the woven wood strips is mesmerising finished with the smooth wooden lid and leather straps. For me, this kind of object combines all of the skill of the maker and a traditional technique at risk of being forgotten, creating a lovely contemporary, useful object.
Kate's book, Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A dress History of Queen Alexandra is now available in paperback and Royal Women, an exhibition she has contributed to, runs at the Fashion Museum, Bath until April 28th
Apply for our new Community Fund
As a non-profit making company, if we have any surplus from the Craft Festival in Bovey Tracey, we give money away to local charities. For many years we supported The Bovey Tracey Youth Café giving them over of £8,000. Our director, Sarah James was also a Trustee for 5 years.
We are now opening out the opportunity to charities, non-profits and local community groups in the TQ13 9 and Heathfield postcode area to be supported by us via our Community Fund.
Applications are now open for 2019 and will be announced at the Craft Festival Preview Evening on June 6th CLICK HERE to apply
Have you booked your workshops yet?
With many sold out and lots with limited availability, you'd better get your skates on and book your workshops NOW!
You can choose from stained glass, wire sculpture, stone carving, needle felting, spoon carving and much more. BOOK YOUR WORKSHOPS HERE
Your Craft Festival Needs YOU?
Time is running out to enter our great competition to win tickets to The Good Life Experience
Win 4 adult camping tickets to The Good Life Experience 2019!
Two nights. Three days. Friday entry from 2pm.
Co-founded by Cerys Matthews, Steve ‘Abbo’ Abbott & The Gladstone family, this festival of discovery & adventure celebrates its sixth birthday this September. It’s set to be the best party yet! Expect raucous music from all over the world curated by Cerys, axe throwing, foraging, campfire cooking sessions with world-class chefs, daily feasts, wild children, mass sing-a-longs, over 40 craftspeople, beer served by experts, talks by explorers, abseiling, a free 1930s fairground, tree climbing, poetry, literature and endless How To... talks. If you love making, the Good Life Experience is for you. Competition Closes Midnight April 26th CLICK HERE TO ENTER OUR COMPETITION