Our Partners
Merissa Hylton
Merissa Hylton is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in London. She works across a variety of media employing both traditional and experimental techniques in sculpture, textiles and ceramics. Inspired by African and Caribbean folklore and symbolism, spirituality and storytelling, her work explores these rich narratives through contemporary visual interpretation. Merissa’s cross discipline approach to the art and craft of making, her exploration of materiality and form to tell stories and her commitment to inclusive practice made her the obvious choice to work with tex craft.
The Texere Collection
Inspired by Merissa’s 2023 work - I am because you were, which explores the traditional techniques of making and use of clay pots, Texere is a collection of plant pots that are hand built using a black volcanic clay which is then burnished to seal the clay and create its unique finish without the use of glazes and additional firings. Finished with a woven jute collar the pots combine Merissa’s love of clay and fabric in a piece that is rich in tactile materiality, proudly wearing the mark of the makers hand and the time spent shaping the materials.
Tex craft explores the process of collective making, often the pots are started by one maker, built upon by another and, when leather hard smoothed and burnished by yet another before firing and finally being sealed with beeswax and woven by someone altogether different. At tex craft we make as a collective taking equal credit, and responsibility for everything we make.
New additions to the Texere collection are being developed in regular collaboration between Merissa and the makers in our workshop every Friday, they are shown here alongside some of Merissa’s original works that inspired the collection.
Atelier Thirty-Four
Atelier Thirty-Four is a UK-based design consultancy established in 2022 by Dave Britton and Harry Hasson specialising in product, furniture, lighting and interior design. Dave and Harry’s commitment to understanding materials, honesty of design and experimental prototyping perfectly aligns with the tex-craft model. They have been regular collaborators since they formed the partnership, working with us on a modular furniture system, hand crafted stools and most recently the limited edition Hemmings Tray.
The Hemmings Tray
Richard Hemmings established local timber merchants R.I.C. Hemmings in 1969. He was active within the community, often helping local residents with materials and advice. Over the years, he squirrelled away a collection of timber off-cuts, interesting pieces that were too good to go to waste, including some rare and unusual pieces. When Richard passed away his son Rob reached out to us to ask if we could make use of it. We approached Dave and Harry with the proposition, and they designed a stacking tray that was prototyped at a free workshop delivered as part of our annual craft festival Here Comes the Sun. With the support of Cory Environmental, we have been able to refine the design incorporating a ceramic tiled base glazed with our very own Erith Gold.
We are now producing a limited edition of ninety-nine unique trays each constructed from Richard’s fascinating collection of timber. This edition is sold in memory of Richard with money raised helping to provide more opportunities for local people to learn the art and craft of timber and ceramics free of charge by becoming a tex maker.
Mentsen
Mentsen is a partnership between Japanese designers Yasuyuki Sakurai and Risa Sano. The studio name, meaning ‘lines and surfaces’ in Japanese, references the studio’s work in different mediums and scales, from furniture and product design to one-off handmade objects and flat works. Their practice combines efficiency and elegance with a hint of humour and has been recognised by several awards including the Finn Juhl Prisen 2022, multiple Wood Awards, Furniture Guild Mark, Archiproducts Design Awards and the Imm Innovation Award.
There is a respect for materials and an honesty in their approach to production that attracted us to their work right from the start of tex craft. The generosity they showed with their time, skills and experience helped establish the tex craft model we continue to explore today.
OL Table
In late 2021 we commissioned Mentsen to help with our first tex craft production project. The brief was to design and demonstrate production of a solid oak folding table that would work for events at The Old Library and store hanging on the walls of the fabulous North Room. After much consultation and prototyping followed by onsite instruction and making Yasu and Risa left the timber makers to it. The makers then constructed all the tables we need, teaching new makers along the way. Eight new tables have recently been commissioned by the Crafts Council for the refurbishment of their grade II listed building in Pentonville road.
OL Chair
Designed as the perfect complement to the table, the OL chair is another beautiful design by Mentsen. Made from sustainably sourced solid European Oak with a Sapele wedged tenon detail and a natural linen webbing seat, the stackable chair is available with timber or webbed back.
In 2023 the Mentsen designed OL table and chair were awarded the prestigious Wood Awards Production Made Furniture Award and long listed for a Dezeen Award.
Natalia Kasprzycka
Commissioned to work with the tex craft makers to design and make ceramic tiles for the old library that is our home we could never have imagined the journey Natalia would take us on. It was a process that lasted nearly two years and included public workshops, consultations, studio research, talks and discussions about local geology, history and craft and some seriously dirty work.
At the start of the project, Natalia quickly identified the Thames as a resource. The Exchange is based in the Old Library building in Erith, Southeast London, about 350 meters from the riverbank. Together, we dug the alluvium and refined it with tools made in the timber workshop. We then test fired hundreds of sample recipes to various temperatures before finally deciding on our very own glaze – Erith Gold.
The knowledge shared and accumulated throughout the project is now embedded into the ceramics workshop, the glaze we developed together is now our house glaze. Erith Gold is used to glaze hand-made tiles fitted in our building, now available for commission, and proudly lining the base of our limited-edition Hemmings Trays.
Natalia Kasprzycka is an artist who explores the circulation and transformation of matter. Her practice is preoccupied with material narratives and decoding landscapes through visual language and hands-on engagement. Often working collaboratively, and in a material-led way, emphasising the importance of skills held within craft practices and the potential of the local environment as a creative resource. She is a QEST Scholar, an Associate Artist of the British Ceramics Biennial and a co-director of GROUND, an artist-led project in Stoke-on-Trent.
Erith Gold
