GRADUATES AT LUSTRE 2008

Young Meteors are a selection of the brightest stars from East Midlands universities. Each year the organisers of Lustre select some of the top emerging talent to showcase their craft at the event.

Lustre provided graduates from the region with the chance to exhibit and sell their work for the first time. This fantastic opportunity allows the ambitious new starters to explore the market and get face-to-face feedback from the audience, an exciting and nerve-racking time - but one which will hopefully prove invaluable as they set out on their journey as makers.

From left to right: Jodie Franklin - jewellery designer and illustrator inspired by suburban imagery Emily Hartley - intriguing jewellery and wearable sculpture, evoking memories and notions of preciousness Phiona Richards - sculptures from old books Sarah Hinton - paper sculptures for interiors Martin Berresford - kinetic wind sculptures Caroline Knaggs - hunter/gatherer kitchen implements Sam Robinson - ceramic jewellery inspired by contemporary society Vanessa Lermond - wooden spoons and woven textiles Chloe Geary - nostalgic illustrations and textiles Craig Fellows - fashion and textile designer with a penchant for chickens.

MARTIN BERRESFORD

25 Bruce Close, Deal, Kent CT14 9BO
07975 750749
martin_berresford@hotmail.com
www.martinberresford.co.uk

Martin is a kinetic sculptor exploring the potential of combining the power of the wind with optical illusions and sound. Using a combination of materials, seasoned oak, tubular steel, rip stop nylon, carbon fibre rods and ball bearings Martin gives his contemporary interpretation of the workings of a traditional windmill’s gear system. His work is colourful, melodic and beautifully crafted.

CRAIG FELLOWS

115 Springfield Road
Burntwood, Staffordshire WS7 4UH
07811 325874
craigfellows666@msm.com
www.craigfellows.co.uk

EXHIBITIONS
New Designers, Islington, 2008

Craig Fellows has a passion for colour and print. His collection of bespoke fashion prints are used in a variety of applications; from unique hand made weekend travel bags, printed silk scarves to beautifully illustrated prints. Traditional silk screen techniques combined with digital printing allows him to explore his passion for drawing and mark making. Quirky hens and roosters form an unusual visual base for this fresh collection.

JODIE FRANKLIN

5 Lower Adeyfield Road
Hemel Hempsted, Hertfordshire
0792 0401931
jodiefranklin369@hotmail.com
www.jodiefranklin.blogspot.com

Jodie’s work is an exploration of leisure, pleasure and nostalgia for a bygone age. Using motifs derived from leafy suburbs and the excitement of day trips out, travelling on London buses and the Underground, she makes wall pieces, illustrations and jewellery, full of colour and pattern.

CHLOE GEARY

White Gables, Mill Hill Road
Arnesby, Leicester
07710 328077
clogeary@aol.com
www.clogeary.blogspot.com

Chloe’s work has an illustrative nature and a strong identity through the use of colour. The style developed simply from her love of drawing. Her work idealises scenes from different cities, giving them a happy and nostalgic twist.

EMILY HARTLEY 

11 Butter Street, Alcester
Warwickshire B49 5AL
emily@emilyhartley.co.uk
www.emilyhartley.co.uk

Silver and printed silk are combined to produce beautiful, elegant and unique pieces of jewellery as well as wearable sculpture and wall pieces. Inspired by memories, nests, nature and contrast each piece provides an intriguing and tactile insight into forgotten memories as the silk is printed with the handwriting from old postcards. 

 

SARAH HINTON 

sarahehinton@hotmail.co.uk

There is, underlying Sarah’s work a desire to make art part of the architectural environment. She wants people to become more involved with art, and to be able to interact with it, by influencing its movement, its texture, and its light and shadow. She enjoys choreographing texture, putting together complementary and contrasting materials, but recently has been working more exclusively with paper in many forms. “Spaces in Togetherness” is a work which brings together a marriage of structure and the space between. The spirals, made from a simple material, move as a unit and independently, all or each of them influenced by the elements around them, including their audience.

NATASHA JOHNSON 

16 Melville Road, Spon End
Coventry CV1 3AN
07772 058209 
natasha.r.johnson@hotmail.com

EXHIBITIONS
Not for all the Tea in China,
Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, 2008

Natasha Johnson designs and produces a bespoke variety of textile based products. She develops and enhances fabrics through tea-staining and embroidery based on the ritual of 'tea-time'. She combines new fabrics with vintage pieces to create a timeless aesthetic. Her products range from wall hangings to hand made accessories.

VANESSA LARMOND

07930 208464
vanessalarmond@yahoo.co.uk 

Vanessa specialises in whittling and basketry, working with both found and bought materials and a small collection of simple hand tools. Her current work consists of a range of spoons produced from wood that she splits, shaves and then whittles. Using traditional basketry skills she weaves organic, naturally dyed cotton 'sleeves' to emphasise or hide the spoons. The way a spoon is held and used is determined by its shape and size, with a strong relationship between the user and the tool. It is important to Vanessa that she only works with natural materials and simple processes that reduce the environmental impact of her work.

SAMANTHA ROBINSON

07834389654
sam2002robinson@yahoo.com
www.samantha-robinson.co.uk

EXHIBITIONS
New Designers, Islington, 2008

Samantha’s inspiration comes from the labels, tags and packaging that are representative of our contemporary society.
Female related activities have been used to explore society’s obsession with body image and size.

Her work combines ceramics, metals and textiles giving a subtle blend of these varied materials and also challenges the orthodox view of ‘everyday’ things.

CAROLINE KNAGGS 

12 Kinston Street, Derby
07799 152543
carolineknaaggs@hotmail.com
www.carolineknaggs.com

Caroline believes that often the simplest opportunities for enjoyment can be missed. Her collection of food tools offer an alternative to mass-produced utensils usually found in our homes. Constructed from ash, granite and bio resin, Caroline relishes the challenge of working and combining these uneven, natural materials into strict forms.

For primitive peoples, their food tools mean't survival, hence huge amounts of time and energy went into making them. It is these items, which have driven her to invest as they did, towards what still remains a fundamental necessity, eating. Caroline uses new technologies to produce new objects, which are intended to echo pre historic times yet cater for contemporary need. 

PHIONA RICHARDS

23 Scott Road, Corby, Northants
NN17 1UH
07968 738031
rarenotions@hotmail.co.uk
www.rarenotions.co.uk

EXHIBITIONS
New Designers, Islington, 2008
RE: Exhibition, Northampton, 
Milton Keynes and Portsmouth, 2008
ICA Book Fair, London, 2006, 2007

Phiona grew up in residential homes where her mother worked, and says she could knit when she was five years old and could crochet when she was nine. “I acquired my sewing skills by watching people repair the residents clothing in the sewing room” says Phiona.