Idea, Concept, Fire

enamel, glass, Pate de 

Enamel, Glass, Pâte De Verre  - As Material Thought

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Makers Guild Wales

​5th September to 25th October 2026

 

Makers Guild Wales has brought a fascinating insight into professional practice where vitreous materials are being applied for individual expression. Curated by artists Helen Carnac and Beate Gegenwart, the exhibition will include work by: Beate Gegenwart, Helen Carnac, Jacky Oliver, Joshua Kerley & Guy Marshall Brown, Anne Petters, Tracy Nicholls, Kirsten Haydon, Cóilin Ó Dubhghaill, David Rhys Jones, Christine Graf, Liana Pattihis, Jane Short

'The concept for the exhibition grew from a concern about the future of larger scale enamelling in the UK and beyond. Although Heritage Crafts currently classifies the technique as ‘alive’, its use among makers is in decline, and opportunities to learn enamelling are diminishing as it disappears from many educational programmes. The medium’s challenges — its technical complexity, high failure rate, labour-intensive processes, and material costs - have contributed to its gradual marginalisation, placing valuable skills and knowledge at risk.  By expanding the scope to vitreous materials more broadly, the exhibition highlights the visual, material, and chemical connections between these practices, revealing shared processes of transformation through heat.
The works presented moves beyond enamel as a purely decorative or precious surface.  Instead, vitreous materials are used to engage with political, personal, and environmental themes, where qualities such as fragility, permanence, risk, and transformation become central to meaning. By creating space for innovative and thought-provoking practice, this exhibition aims to challenge perceptions, open dialogue and encourage renewed engagement with vitreous materials as relevant, expressive and conceptually powerful forms of contemporary art.'   Beate Gegenwart/Helen Carnac 2025

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Metalwork exhibition

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Contemporary Applied Arts

London

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Forging Forms explores the expressive possibilities of contemporary metalwork, celebrating makers who transform raw material through skill, precision, and imagination. Bringing together works in silver, steel, copper, bronze, aluminium, and mixed metals, the exhibition highlights the remarkable breadth of approaches within contemporary practice, from meticulously crafted vessels and sculptural forms to innovative jewellery and functional objects.

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6 Paddington Street,

London W1U 5QG

02076200086

 

Opening Hours

Tues - Fri: 11:00 - 17:00

Thurs:  11.00 - 18.00
Sat: 11:00 - 16:00

 

 

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​​​​​​Interview with Florènia Magazine

I was absolutely delighted to be featured in Florènia Magazine, read the article using the link below​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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