Friday 16th Dec: Art Against Knives Auction

Last night I had the privilege of attending the Art Against Knives Auction held at the Hackney Town Hall Hotel in the Court Room which was the perfect location to house such an event! After a champagne reception to view the works, we sat down for a 3 course feast prepared by the award winning Rebel Dining Society. Dinner was served on paint palette platters & limited edition crockery signed by AAK founder Oliver Hemsley. We then picked up our paint palette voting paddles and got stuck into the sales hosted by Ed Rising of Sotheby's. He jumped up on the bench and conducted the proceedings pointing at us until he got the maximum price to raise the most funds for the charity. Amongst the pieces up for grabs were original paintings by Antony Gormely and Tracey Emin ........ prints by Rob Ryan and Wolfgang Tilmans ......... and dresses from Marios Schwab, Mary Katrantzou and Hussein Chalayan. I wanted the William Broome paper cut panda bear and Over It & Co screenprints for Dels Gob Shop launch but alas couldn't keep up with the bids from an audience including the likes of Bianca Jagger opposite us. It was a room of lush people all brought together by Katy Dawe who began the enterprise with Oliver and has formed a loyal following of support within London's creative community. The photographs from their own exhibition FYI of young Hackney artists were slotted into the lots so the talents that take part in the project were billed alongside the established name pieces donated. As each one came up, Katy talked us through the story behind each portrait which gave an insight and background into case studies of how the funds are used and how the new sums raised would be carried forwards. To have the opportunity to buy an exclusive art work without paying gallery fees and know that the cost is going directly to help local young people out of disillusioned futures is an idea that is going to run from strength to strength. Congratulations once again Katy and Oliver.

To buy yourself a piece of AAK artwork, head to the new Box Park in Shoreditch where they have just opened their first store................. and buy one of my AAK t-shirts for your Christmas shopping here.

(top to bottom: Will Broom, Over It & Co, Rob Ryan, Suzy P, Dinner, AAK badge on a Christopher Shannon shirt, Patternity & Tom Ryling, Versace Minx nails on Craig Lawrence, Mary Katrantzou's dress, Marios Schwab's dress, Christopher Kane's dress, Ed Rising, Barbara Grispini with Katy and Marios, Katy Dawe)