Designer Maker Exhibition Vol. 1

Curators

Teshigoto Collective

Teshigoto collective is three Japanese designer-makers, trained in London and practicing their crafts for over 20 years. For this exhibition, they are joined by menswear designer Ian Batten.

Teshigoto is a Japanese word which means hand work, and the word gives a sense of labour intensive and traditional methods of making, which perfectly encapsulates the way they work.

Rie Taniguchi makes jewellery and objects modelled on endangered, often misunderstood and under-appreciated species in silver and other materials. She uses a variety of techniques such as press forming, embossing, chasing, engraving and raising.
She begins her designing process by drawing from real life, as well as photographs, films and also from memory. She aims to make her work life like by carefully observing how different animal's body works. When possible a group of work is shown as an installation under a theme.

Tomoko Yamanaka is a knitwear designer, design consultant and lecturer.
She started the ‘British Alpaca Project’ knitwear collection in 2012 using 100% British Alpaca wool. She works closely with Alpaca farmers, developing her own range of yarns every season. The different colours are achieved without the use of dyes, by carefully blending different shades of natural Alpaca fleece spun in a micro-mill in Dorset. She produces high quality special limited edition knitwear each season. She has collaborated with Corgi in Wales, Francis Moore (Specialist Weavers) in West Yorkshire, to name just two.

Mica Hirosawa produces woven scarves and accessories in a studio in Cockpit Arts, Holborn. She uses wool, linen, cashmere and silk. She likes to try out different weaves and discover what she can create using just a small number of shafts, but she finds simple structures most beautiful to work with.

She has always enjoyed making scarves, because the moment a scarf comes off the loom the product is almost complete.

Ian Batten is a menswear designer. After graduating from Hornsey College of Art, he started his career as a Royal Opera House costume dresser. He worked for many companies before established his own label in 1990. His beautifully cut clothes are timeless and smart, yet casual and playful. He now has a studio in the Hampstead Koppel Project.