Chapters, at the New Craftsman Gallery from 27th May to 25th June, will be the last ever collection by textile artist Jason Collingwood.
The show marks the end of his 30-year career as a rug maker. Showing alongside him at New Craftsman is his wife and fellow artist Akiko Hirai, whose decorative Moon Jars and functional tableware fuse Japanese and British ceramic traditions.
Closing this chapter in Jason’s life, this special collection of hand-woven rugs demonstrates the artist’s talent for creating striking and technically complicated geometric designs.
Over the last three decades, Jason has rarely exhibited, but has woven more than 2,000 rugs by commission for private clients, architects, and interior designers, including a series of 24 rugs for the Sheraton Hotel in Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania, and a collection of rugs for a castle in Switzerland.
Each rug is entirely unique, woven by hand on the loom using a block weave structure in a palette of powerful colours.
Japanese born ceramicist Akiko Hirai studied ceramics at the University of Westminster and Central St Martins, London. To complement Jason’s rugs, she has created 12 Moon Jars, which change appearance throughout the series in reflection of the lunar cycle, and the circular completion of her husband’s successful career as a weaver.
She has achieved subtle changes in each work by alternating her kiln atmosphere when firing, and allowing varying amounts of impurity in the clay that affect the surface detail of each work. The exhibition also includes a collection of Akiko’s functional tableware, which demonstrates her distinctive use of dark clay enhanced by a veil of white glaze.
See Jason ad Akiko’s work at the New Craftsman Gallery, 24 Fore Street, St Ives, from 27th May to 25th June.
