For Haiti
After writing checks and texting donations, The Bureau of Friends, and some of its friends, wanted to do more. So, we gathered items and services to auction and we put them on eBay–100 percent of the proceeds go to Architecture for Humanity’s work in Haiti.
Billy Reid for men, rare HEATH collectibles, Lutz & Patmos Cashmere, a Chadwick Bell necklace. . . and more offers coming. Please have a look and help spread the word: http://stores.ebay.com/Bureau-of-Friends-Auction.
We hope these small gestures grow larger, with generous bidding and a little help from our friends.
Henry Varnum Poor (1887-1970)
Less than an hour north of Manhattan, is the home and studio of Henry Varnum Poor (1887-1970), called Crow House. Henry designed and built Crow House with his own hands.
In 1931, New Yorker magazine named Henry Poor one of America’s finest painters. He was also a craftsman, an architect, an art teacher and a ceramist–in fact, we learned about him recently at Greeenwich House Pottery.
photos: Gjon Mili for LIFE magazine and Henry Varnum Poor estate.
Event: “The Sustainability Equation” Pratt Institute, January 26th, 6 p.m.
Free panel discussion: “The Sustainabilty Equation.” Moderated by curators, Francecsa Granata and Sarah Scaturro, with Julie Gilhart, Mary Ping, Caroline Priebe.
January 26, 6pm, Room 213, no reservations required, free admission.
The exhibition (through February 20th) surveys the work of artists and designers… who explore the question of integrating sustainable practices into the fashion system.
The panel discussion, on Januray 26th, will include Julie Gilhart, joined by Mary Ping, designer and founder of Slow and Steady Wins the Race; Caroline Priebe, designer and founder of Uluru, moderated by “Ethics + Aesthetics” guest curators Francesca Granata, fashion theorist, and Sarah Scaturro, textile conservator at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
More information about the free panel discussion and the exhibition, here.
(photo: Pratt Institute art class c 1890, photo via Brooklyn Public Library)
The New Luxury
In 2009, as consumer spending habits swung to a place of extreme reflection, the notion of handmade took on new relevance.
Speaking on a recent panel called “The New Luxury Paradigm,” at the National Retail Federation’s annual conference, Stephen Sadove, CEO of Saks Inc., referred to Louis Vuitton’s advertising focus on workmanship, as a way to bring ‘touch and feel’ of a brand to its buyers. One might suggest that while the NRF and it’s speakers were exploring the concept, there are other more-authentic intentions of ‘new luxury’ that are found elsewhere. For the Bureau, however, it’s this mainstream focus on the subject of ‘handmade’ and well made that we want to note here.
From a slightly different angle, our own Natalie Chanin shares her thoughts in a recent interview, “Does the Art of Craft and Handmade Matter in Fashion?“
We seem to be acknowledging that a beautiful handcrafted object–as an expression of place, material, skill and style–embodies a soulfulness that outlasts decorating trends and economic cycles. At the same time, more of us are getting in on the act of creating objects ourselves.
The television series Craft in America on PBS explores not just the past history of craft in the United States, but the beauty and relevance of what the artist and craftsman are doing today. The Craft in America website features dozens of inspiring stories about artists and teachers–young and old, including this video clip of high school student Nathan Bergelson in NYC.
Video: talented young jewelry artist, Nathan Bergelson, learns his craft at the 92nd St Y.
The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
“…the craftsman is proud of what he’s made and cherishes it, while the consumer discards the perfectly serviceable in pursuit of the new.” from Shop Class as Soul Craft, by Matthew Crawford.
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The Bureau of Friends care about how things are made and we hope to inspire folks to be more savvy buyers. In fact, we have a hunch our own insight as consumers is fast tracked when we learn how to make a few things ourselves, with our own hands. These are a few expert-maker stories we like, including one of our own.
“Their childhood boots sit on the shelf like trophies, as if to remind them of an era when things were made to last…brothers Chris and Kirk Bray have developed a brand that recognizes quality and longevity.” This is from a wonderful piece and a short film about Billykirk, by Tom Ran and The Scout.
Once considered unsalvageable, this quilt was given a new life. Re-stitched with organic cotton applique and reinvigorated by today’s skilled hands and embroidered stories about women who worked in an American textile factory.
Matthew Crawford and Cole Foster:
Matthew Crawford has our attention. His writing examines what we’ve lost (as individuals and as a society) by ceasing to work with our hands and by not celebrating people who do. He says, “Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract and distant…”
Still savoring fresh facts presented by Crawford, our Bureau Chief, Maria Moyer, found herself reconnected via Facebook to Cole Foster–an elementary school pal and, as it turns out, a respected designer-maker of vintage-inspired custom cars and motorcycles in California. Like Cole, Crawford is not only an author but his work involves motorcycles with vintage cachet. In 2010, we want to sit down to dinner with both of them. Who’s in?
You don’t need to know anything about motorcycles (we don’t) to love Matthew Crawford’s book. We’ve been talking about it for months. Have you read Shop Class as Soul Craft? How’s it relevant to your life?
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