A series of beautiful porcelain murals produced by Johnson Tiles will adorn a unique new arts space in London being unveiled for the inaugural London Craft Week (6-10 May).
The Crafted City pavilion is the brainchild of Contemporary Applied Arts, London’s premier multi-disciplinary gallery devoted to fine British craft.
A beautifully crafted object in and of itself, the pavilion will provide a place to see and learn about craft and to participate in making and discussion with makers in an informal setting. The structure has been specially designed by architects Allies and Morrison, with the crafted elements commissioned by CAA from many of their leading members, craftspeople working across a range of disciplines including ceramics, glass, furniture and textile.
Leading British tile manufacturer Johnson Tiles, based in the heart of the Potteries in Staffordshire, is working with Contemporary Applied Arts and ceramic artist Daphne Carnegy to reproduce a series of her blue and white Delft-inspired designs on tiles that will clad the internal and external walls of the pavilion, sited on a pedestrian walkway in Southwark, London.
Each 200x200mm porcelain tile will be decorated using Johnson Tiles’ bespoke Artile printing service, which allows any colour or image to be reproduced onto new ceramic or porcelain. The process involves producing digital transfers of the artist’s original watercolours at the Johnson Tiles factory in Stoke-on-Trent, hand applying them to the tiles and then firing them to fuse the images with the glaze layer. The finished tiles will then be assembled onto large panels on site in London.
A selection of the tile designs will also be offered for sale in the CAA gallery during and after London Craft Week.
The project is the latest in a series of artist collaborations from Johnson Tiles, which last year saw the manufacturer working with textile artist Ptolemy Mann, London design studio David David and Danish artist Nina Beier. Johnson Tiles has also worked with CAA in the past, most notably in the creation of bespoke tiles for the vibrantly-coloured bathroom in the CAA gallery, designed by CAA member, Ptolemy Mann.
The Crafted City, an exciting public commission funded by the Arts Council England, is a project conceived by CAA, in which a beautifully crafted pop-up space will serve as a flexible meeting and learning space throughout London Craft Week, hosting a series of events, activities and talks from high profile artists and makers.
Harry Foster, Specialist Products Business Manager at Johnson Tiles, said: “It’s always exciting to be working with craft artists and makers in the UK and to support new initiatives such as London Craft Week.
Johnson Tiles is a keen advocate of collaboration with artists and designers so it fits very well with us in terms of what we do. The tiles being used for the pavilion will really show the flexibility and adaptability of the Artile product.”