One person’s story is a homage to all of us, this story, whether visual or verbal offers us hope, knowledge and empowerment. In our experiences as creators of luxurious attire, we full-heartedly believe in this.
Here we present to you, the makers who focus on the art of making and the dedication to working with hand to craft the perfect story of handmade products.
A Look Behind The Craft
Caroline Ortega
The Columbian heritage at heart, industrial product and textile designer Carolina Ortega links her craft to the adversity she faced growing up. Deeply invested in her Columbian roots, Ortega’s story is an inspiration to many individuals in the world of PVC textile designs.
Born and raised in the hard times of Columbia, Ortega’s childhood was not a typical experience for many in the United Kingdom. With fear and war surrounding her at all times during her childhood, she grew up with a strong mentality and values each and every moment of her life. At the age of 25, a life-threatening illness changed her view towards life altogether. She cherished every hardship, loved her family and overcame all battles to become the person she is today.
During her time in the UK, Ortega realised the media portrayed only the negative side of her home country, Columbia. Regardless of the painful history of her country, her dreams were deeply rooted in the hopes and positivity from Columbia and her family. She initiated a journey of weaving traditional Columbian art to modern contemporary designs and projected her creativity on woven textiles. Today, her art is a mirror self of the country she dearly loves and her experience from all the hardships she faced growing up.
Ortega has eyes on global success as she aspires to continue weaving with her Columbian roots.
You can check out more of Carolina’s work here.
Kyla McCallum
Founder of London-based design studio Foldability, which crafts paper art, set design and products inspired by origami and geometry, Kyla McCallum appreciates her art to find balance and symmetry in life.
Her inspiration comes from people who are passionate about their art and have a positive motivation to do what they love. Her love for handmade products sparked her creativity in crafting labour intensive work of folding thousands of origami to complete a project. Today, Kyla’s work doubles as a therapy, but it was not always the case. The intense crafting work left her unwell with pain in her back and arms, as well as breathing problems caused by paint inhalation. Later, Kyla realised that her craft was slowly ruining her life and work. While making some drastic changes to her lifestyle, she introduced healthy eating, exercise and acupuncture to her life.
Since then, Kyla has made peace with her craft and decided to live a balanced work-life lifestyle.
You can check out more of Kyla’s work here.
Joseph Ludkin
The grandson of the founding member of the Craft Potters Association, Joseph Ludkin, a potter and ceramicist based in Brockley continues honing his own novel pottery style. Inspired by the Japanese aesthetic philosophy of Wabi-Sabi - Joseph’s focus is on crafting art that focuses on accepting the imperfection. As life is inconsistent and never perfect, Wabi-Sabi emphasizes living and enduring the shortcoming of both life and art.
His most noticeable form of art is his Yunomi pieces, a handle-less vessel carved with hand, traditionally from Japanese and Korean culture. Joseph’s work is focused on respecting age-old tradition and heritage rather than aspiring to compete with modernism. His craft does not involve a certain set of rules or an intent of use, rather, he puts out a blank canvas to the beholders and lets them decide what his art is truly meant to be for them. He wants his artwork to resonate differently with people, communities, and culture - and also what it means to them.
You can check out more of Joseph’s work here.
Majeda Clarke
Textile designer, Majeda Clarke pays homage to her South Asian roots to weave jamdani textiles by hands. Immigrated in the 1980s at an early age, her childhood was filled with a sense of difference in culture. Growing up, she became a teacher, but only after two decades later, she decided to step into the textile area. While it was new and different to her, her support from her family inspired her to start a studio by herself.
Clarke spent hours in understanding her culture and searching for the uniqueness in the world of fast fashion. Her relationships in her textile design journey inspired her to weave ethic and aesthetic pieces in the UK. Clarke’s relationship with jamdani textile offers the fusion of cultural inheritance and an idea to form a cohesive identity in this world of design. Her heritage from both Bangladesh and the UK has provided her with a hand to hand strength in weaving an award-winning design industry.
You can check out more of Majeda’s work here.
.Ar:ti|sans
.Ar:ti|sans leathercrafting kit is not only beginner friendly but keeps all the essence of leathercrafting to its core. Start you leathercraft journey with the basics and learn your way to crafting master pieces. Get started with a few of our leathercrafting kits here.
We believe art is not only a creative gesture that people need to be born with. Every moment in their lives, every experience, and relationship grows out in a form of art and every material out there is just a way to express themselves. Physically investing time and energy into crafting is an art like nothing less and for that our leather experts at artisan gathered a special leathercraft kit for people who wish to balance their mental creativity with their physical endurance. Creating something out of nothing involves a heavy price to both the mind and body and gently sculpting yourself into a piece of art that brings beautiful pieces to this world is the art we strive for.
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