Wednesday 16th May: NOW Gallery - "Harmonics In Space" - The Private View

On the frosty night before the snow came, we opened the doors to "Harmonics In Space" at NOW Gallery for a private view ......... to the public.  The SwimDemCrew soundsystem were on the decks, Marawa's Majorettes spun spectrums with their neon hula hoops, "Jus' A Lickle Tast" served Vegan canapes on irrdescent polyhedral platters, and guests could take away the tote-bag I designed for the show.  Origami was being made inbetween all of this action as a taster of the calm and meditative mood the show offered in a regular daily setting.  The tactile pastel foam flooring got its first footfall of the two month stint!

Wednesday 16th May: NOW Gallery - "Harmonics In Space" - Mystic Mascots

As part of the multi-sensory experience of visiting my show "Harmonics In Space" at NOW Gallery, there was a creative corner  for visitors to take time to make origami. I wanted everyone to have a hands-on go at the paper-craft I used to design the sculptures within the show.  Then everyone could appreciate the structure on another level instead of just looking at it as an object, but understand the construction.  To do this, I designed an exclusive colourful mystic mascot to match your mood.  Therefore everyone would learn both the basics in origami folding to make the finger-puppet and also discover some colour theory in choosing whichever attributes they felt connected to.  

Our mission was to provide creative space to switch off, contemplate and make. The idea was for visitors to then decorate their cosmic creature and keep it as a magic memento of their day.  I absolutely love stickers so it was a real dream to be able to collaborate with OhhDeer on designing sticker sheets for the creature's faces in multicolour options.  Here you can see each element of the process from the bespoke origami paper to the finished folded finger-puppet animals.

Tuesday 9th May: NOW Gallery - "Harmonics In Space" - Equinox Dinner

To mark the opening of my show "Harmonics In Space" at NOW Gallery we hosted a dinner to celebrate the Spring Equinox.  As the theme for my show was all about healing via colour, light, sound, movement and shape it was the perfect time to coincide with nature's very own gift of the dawn of the new bright season.

We engineered the event on the topic of "Design for Wellbeing" by inviting a collection of practitioners working in the realm of design to enhance life.  After an initial viewing of the exhibition, we headed upstairs for a Spring feast served in Sophie Ashby’s designed apartment.  I had decorated the tables with my iridescent origami lights and as much spectrum crockery as I could source.  The florists Augustus Bloom tied beautiful seasonal bouquets as big centre pieces which divided up as separate posies for guests to take home.  These included Ranunculus, anemones and a sprinkle highlight of cosmic rainbow roses on my own personal request!

The night was hosted by designer Anna Murray from Patternity who led a discussion looking at the importance of design to improve our everyday lives.  She initially explained her own personal discovery and journey into wellness and described her daily routine employing techniques to embrace meditation and positive patterns within her schedule.  Guests then took turns with a "show and tell" of treasured items to share the story of the importance of their own sentimental attachments.  

At the end of the night everyone had the opportunity to take an incredible keep-sake in the form of this box of chocolates.  I made holographic origami containers to house Vegan truffles made by the fair hands of Lena Romain a.k.a Jus' A Lickle Taste.  She made four different flavours and each of these had a list of ingredients ranging from Nutmeg, pistachio, coconut, rum to ginger.......... all ridiculously complex and yummy!  The edible summation of my exhibition with the many facets and layers of textures and stimuli.  

For the special occasion I wore a complete activewear outfit from the range by Patternity for John Lewis.  New patterns and designs have been added since it first launched so head over to the website to see more here.  

(Photos a mix of my own, Anna Murray and official shots by Tom Hatton)

Thursday 3rd April: NOW Gallery - "Harmonics In Space" official photos Part 2

Here it is!  The final official photographs of my show "Harmonics In Space" = my destination for healing inspired by Rudolph Laban’s theory with exhibition design by Install Archive . Every minute detail from the steel brackets to the enormity of the dichroic screen, through to the electronics of the lighting and motion was invented, developed and fabricated by Lee. He suggested we interpret my origami in card for this massive scale to keep the quality of craft. He read my mind from day one and took it to a new dimension I didn’t know was possible. The other-world I’m always aiming to create landed like a psychedelic meteorite shower at Now Gallery.

Thanks to Charles Emerson for going beyond the call of duty in putting in extra hours to capture the installation over all the variations of light from dawn to dusk.  Thanks also to Hester Connell who hid herself within the installation during the night shoot to keep on the lights by crouching on the trigger panels.

To read more into my concept / manifesto for the show, head over to the gallery website for a breakdown of each element here.  This includes: SHAPE, COLOUR, LIGHT, MAKE, LISTEN, BE.

Wednesday 2nd April: NOW Gallery - "Harmonics In Space" official photos

From my previous work-in-progress snaps of making and installing my exhibition "Harmonics In Space" at NOW Gallery to some of the official photographs to document the process.  Photographer Casey Moore joined us one morning during the final stages to capture me within the space as it unfolded.  Here I am with the team from Install Archive who designed the exhibition and led the actual build of everything from the mechanics, electrics to the giant origami.  We even collaborated on perspex platters cut into Polyhedra for a dinner event which I used as a prop in this image at the top.  I love it when a plan comes together!  See all the fun moving animations we made over on my Tumblr here.