Must Explore GB Design May 2010

Must Magazines Spring 2010

Magazines M ust...

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The new home of Cricket, good lord! 4 A Kings Road Tale, Paultons Designs 14 Blake Ward, Sculptor 20 Gong’s Guillaume Evrard 24 Jonathan Williams and his ceramic art 30 Patrick Mavros, there’s only one... 32 Mark Rogers Natural Flooring 36 Cobus van der Walt, Cabtography 39 Alphabet Photography? 44 Marcel Jean Vos of Vos Kristall 56 And lots of bits and bobs in between 15 May 2010

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L eslie Pratt founded Cricket Fine Art in 1996 to as-semble and represent a selection of gifted contem-porary artists and introduce their work to a wider

audience. With a degree in Fine Art and many years working in London galler-ies, Leslie had garnered considerable acumen in recognizing new tal-ent and felt passionately about helping to sustain and promote it. Nevertheless, at that time, as a mother of three young children, it was convenient (necessary!) for Leslie’s first ‘gallery’ to be at home. While this was quite disruptive during exhibitions (her husband grumbled that it was like moving house three times a year), Leslie al-

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most unwittingly discovered that hanging art at home had a strong marketing advantage. Clients were able to view paint-ings in situ and, seeing fine art hanging over an abandoned cof-fee cup or the odd half chewed sneaker -- the pervasive art of domestic life -- seemed to make visitors immediately at ease with the paintings and able imagina-tively to transmit them to their own houses. Consequently, this feeling of seeing art hang “at home” is a concept rooted in the design of her galleries, and each has the welcoming feeling of a furnished house rather than the more traditional spare, minimal-ist design of most galleries. As her portfolio of artists grew and her sales moved beyond a predominantly local client base, Leslie knew that she must find a more central venue for both art-ists and buyers. Accordingly, in 2003, she opened her first gal-lery at 13 Langton Street and, in this intimate, charming space, held a number of successful mixed and one man shows, in-cluding exhibitions of such in-creasingly successful artists as Chloe Lamb, Christine Seifert and Jeffrey Pratt. Artist Chloe Lamb at the opening

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As her artists gained in stature and her business flourished, Leslie decided to move to a larger space and, in the Spring of 2010, opened her new gallery at 2 Park Walk.

Leslie sells art from the gallery as well as from her well constructed and constantly updated website. In her inviting gallery, the vibrant colourful paintings glow from the soft-toned walls and the smells of sea grass and highly polished furniture do make one feel immediately at home (albeit in a particularly tidy one!). People drop in constantly and linger unselfconsciously among the art, which is just as she would have it, commenting ”that’s where paintings ultimately rest -- the more it feels like home, the better.” Leslie’s long represented artists continue to gather ever larger follow-ings and her list of represented artists also continues to grow. She now regularly sells globally and ships works all over the world. From young mother determined to nurture artists and inspire others to “bring art home”, Leslie has built a successful business that rewards both artist and client; to the first she gives a voice and to the second she gives a love of living with art.

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The downstairs drawing room at Leslie’s Gal-lery in Park Road,SW10.

www.cricketfineart.co.uk

Free Digital Brochure @ www.mustmagazines.com

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www.cricketfineart.co.uk

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The must see antique dealership in Park Road, Chelsea for those quirky objects...

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www.jamesmcwhirter.com

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P aultons Designs started life near Paultons Square on the Kings Road in the 1960’s. The young Ximena Bravo worked here, assisting

the owner, sneaking off to the next door restaurant via the back entrance from time to time for a quick ciga-rette and the odd tipple with rising rock stars of the time – she casually mentions a string of rock royalty she used to party with. How they got any work done only they would know, but life and business was good.

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This grand madame of the Kings Road has the energy of a person half her age. To-day, owner of Paultons, she spends her time renovating and designing the interiors of minor mansions, contem-plates the finer detail of her wrought iron furniture pieces, manages her shop in Parsons Green, a workshop and suppliers from Morocco to Spain.

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As I walk into her showroom she’s dealing with a call from the work shop, thereafter attending to walk in customers from far away, then somehow actually finds time to talk to me. But she’s calm and serene. The moment you walk into Ximena’s Kings Road showroom, you get a sense of her strong character from the many pieces on display. 100% natural, each piece unique, each piece made to measure. Wrought iron steel and soft white cotton sofa’s. Steel, glass and reclaimed wood. Dining tables. Chandeliers flickering away. It’s simply a pleasure to walk through this space.

Paultons Designs showroom on the New Kings Road in Parsons Green

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The pictures in these pages provide a limited represen-tation of Ximena’s work, but I suggest a visit to Paul-tons Designs in Parsons Green where you may just bump into one of the grand ladies of the Kings Road design scene who can tell you a tale or two.

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www.blakesculpture.com

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www.blakesculpture.com

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ne of the oldest traditions in art is the celebration of the human form.

Born in northern Canada, Blake earned an honours degree in Fine Arts from the University of Al-berta before pursuing his study of figurative sculpture in the art capitals of Europe. Apprenticing in Paris, he has focused on the tra-ditional techniques used by figu-rative artists and developed a pre-cise style of representational work. His sculptures are often modern evocations of classic themes, based on the themes of dance, mythology, feminism, and the human spirit.

Blake’s figures celebrate the per-fection of nature and the imper-fection of the soul. Blake at Work on Medusa: “Mine is an art of passion, an art that evokes sensu-ality and the richness of human emotions. The work is meant to glorify nature and evoke enchant-ment to describe the essence of the human spirit and reflect the mystery of the soul.” Honouring the European tradition each sculpture is limited to an edi-tion of twelve or less.

Blake at work on a sculpture named after the ‘Maped F1’ landmine

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C orsica is one of the 26 régions of France, although strictly speaking Corsica is

designated as a "territorial col-lectivity" by law. As a territorial collectivity, it enjoys greater powers than other French régions. Corsica is referred to as a "région" and is almost always listed among the other régions of France. Al-though the island is separated from the continental mainland by the Ligurian Sea and is much closer to the Italian than to the French mainland, politically Corsica is part of Metropolitan France. It was once briefly an independent Corsican Republic, until being incorporated into France in 1769. Napoléon Bonaparte was born here. So too was Guillaume Evrard, in the 1960’s though, plus he is a much more congenial and pleasant gentleman. He’s done a lot in his life time: trained as an engineer, worked in fashion buying in France, travelled Vietnam, Indonesia and Africa and in 2001 headed for London where he went back to school to

study Design. He met Belgian designer Jo Plismy and the next thing he was working at Gong in Portobello Road. In 2006 they opened Gong on the Fulham road in Chelsea. Lamps and lighting remain core, but you will find amazing value in the distressed furniture range. Guillaume likes to sell things that have sole – a bit of wear and tear in appearance but perfectly manufactured and fully functional. The store appears small from the outside but fortunately you can get a bit lost inside on the three levels. Distressed trees, distressed leather chairs and so-fas, reclaimed cast iron lamp bases, distressed lacquer Chi-nese style furniture. You can see the influence of Guillaume’s earlier travels throughout the store and much is sourced from those areas and also from Belgium and France. Get to Gong or for more details of the current range, visit their website. www.gong.co.uk

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www.gong.co.uk


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www.createtodestroy.com

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P atrick Mavros has not only created some of the most extraordinary silver sculp-tures in Africa, he has cre-

ated around them an environment just as extraordinary, in which he lives and works. The workshops, the family

homestead, the wildlife sanctuary, the offices and reception, together with his wonderful sales studio, are all built so as to form a small village on his estate in the wild hills outside Harare in Zim-babwe.

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Mavros is an incurable storyteller and a full-blooded bon vivant as well as a master sculptor. That’s partly why his creations communicate so well. The gift of storytelling is perhaps inherited from his Mediterranean ancestors - but as a fourth-generation Zimbabwean, Patrick Mavros is most at home in the African bush. Born and raised in Matabeleland (the wild, western province of Zimbabwe), the young Patrick developed a deep affinity for its wildlife, particularly the birds of prey. Like many an artist be-fore him, he strove to capture the form and essence of the birds and animals on paper - as evidenced by his boy-hood sketchpads. Adulthood, however, laid out a more

prosaic career for Patrick, and he be-came first a baker, then a soldier. For-tunately fate, in the classic tradition, smiled upon the young man and he met, wooed and won his wife, Catja Halsted. The petite, warm-hearted Catja became the pivotal influence that was to set Mavros on his path to be-coming one of the world’s most ac-complished sculptors. Patrick, newly-wed and wanting to give Catja an original and personal gift, carved a pair of earrings from a small piece of ivory in the form of roses, her favourite flower. Catja was not the only one delighted with the ear-rings - soon Patrick was inundated with requests from friends for similar pairs to be created. And so it all began.

www.patrickmavros.com

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Mavros developed his own unique sculpting technique, using innate artis-tic skills and his acute eye for detail and essence. The more he worked, the more he was inspired to try more am-bitious subjects. He experimented with various tools and materials, and, with the encouragement of his wife and family, was soon involved in his own full-time business. Most of his early pieces were one-offs, carved from ivory, his preferred me-dium. However, to meet growing de-mand and develop a more environmen-tally-sensitive product, he studied and adopted the age-old art of lost-wax casting, whereby a mould is used only once. This method ensures that every detail of the original is present in the casting, and that each resulting piece is individually hand-made. He decided on silver as a material in order to ex-press both the precious nature and es-sential purity of his subject - wildlife. As the Mavros reputation grew, so did his range; after twenty five years it comprises over 450 individual items from - literally - ants to elephants.

Each of these creations has its own unique story, adding considerably to its charm and ultimately, value. Today, with Catja and his four sons, a slightly eccentric collection of point-ers, spaniels, African Grey parrots, horses and friends - not to mention a state-of-the-art silversmithing work-shop on a tree-clad estate in the hills, Patrick Mavros is an artist at the height of his creative maturity. Although he commands considerable respect from collectors worldwide, Patrick Mavros continues to keep a close personal involvement with the sale of his creations and the people who purchase them. For the mogul or mechanic, the artist is genuinely ap-proachable, a gregarious, interesting man who enjoys nothing more than welcoming you himself, while show-ing off his collection and the wonder-ful environment he has created to house it.

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M ark Hawkins trained as an accountant and at the age

of 21, plans slightly al-tered, he found himself working for a major car-pet manufacturer. Within five years he ran the Lon-don operation.

He would call on flooring contractors years before becoming one of the UK's leading contac-tors himself, with a show-room in the heart of Chel-

sea. The experi-ence gained from carpet manufac-turing was invaluable and now he has in depth product knowledge that his competitors can only dream of having. This aught to be very comforting to home owners and designers alike. Once the Mark Roger team have in-stalled a carpet, natural fibre or wood floor, their clients very rarely go elsewhere when in need of further work at a later stage. Client retention is very high and repeat business from leading London de-signers is testament to a profes-sionally run operation. Three in-stallation teams go out every day and have done so for the past 20

years. Joe, late 30’s and a fitter, started with Mark at the age of 16. There is just about nothing these guys don’t know about floor-ing. Mark talks proudly of these fine craftsmen. The operation is made up of the Chelsea showroom and a 5 000 square meter warehouse in Henley on Thames, where they’ve been since 1983. ‘Our showroom carries only about 2% of what’s out there and avail-able. We know what can be sourced and from where, so in this very per-sonalised business we are able to steer clients to the better quality, better value products – even if the exact sample is not available’, says Mark, pointing at hundreds, thou-sands of sample swatches. Mark Rogers Natural Flooring are specialist installers of wool carpets, fibre and wood flooring, located on the Fulham Road, Chelsea, Lon-don. www.markrogerflooring.co.uk

Mark Hawkins

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The showroom in Chelsea - also available as a London base (free of charge!) to ‘Key Designers’ - talk to Mark to discuss access: [email protected]

The range includes wool, fibre (sisal, grasses, coir and jute) and wood flooring.

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Must Magazines Spring 2010 www.markrogernaturalflooring.com


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f you bought a CAB in 1998 at Christies,

circa £2 000, you’ve done very well indeed!

By Francis Caine

The information of Lot 266, sale 8156 on 15 October 1998 at Christies in South Kensington documents the sale of ZEBRAS AND WILDEBEEST as sold for £1 840 against an estimate of £1 500 to £2 000.

Further paintings in oil on canvas by CAB were sold at Christies at around the same time with prices to match. Paintings are signed ‘CAB’ along with the latitude and longitude of the subject.

Cobus van der Walt was born days before Christmas in 1965, so no big birthday parties to mention over the pursuing years for this ex-tremely private person.

Matriculating (A-levels) at Paul Roos Gymnasium, Stellenbosch in 1983 he then read fine art at the University of Pretoria.

Cobus was nicknamed ‘Cabous’ at school, this abbreviated over time to Cab, hence CAB and Cabtogra-phy.

He didn’t dive into the world of art straight after gaining his degree at university, pursuing initially the world of commerce where he claimed various successes, amongst them, supplying Soweto’s shebeens (speakeasy’s of Johannesburg’s townships) with wholesale supplies of liquor during the dark days of apartheid, befriending the locals

and Chief of Police on par. Always close to the beating heart of Africa!

Now, when not ex-ploring the Seren-geti or Tuli block in Botswana for inspi-ration and sanity, you might find him

driving past you in his short wheel base Land Rover on the N2 motor-way between Cape Town and Stel-lenboch, en route or return from the Sunday ritual - a braai (barbeque) with his loving parents.

He never locks the doors to his Land Rover and as a result has never experienced a break in. Also, phone him between 3 and 4 in the afternoon at your peril. Siesta time!

Cab’s work in this issue of Must Magazines provides a mere glimpse of his recent work and does little justice to his genius. His work can be properly appreciated in situ,

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now changing hands for four, five times the 1998 values and they seem to rise consistently and stead-ily, understandably so.

An original Cab is rather large and requires expansive wall space.

We’d be delighted to provide con-tact details, works on offer and prices but Cab’s appears to be ex-ploring and contemplating his next brilliance, so please stay in touch.

[email protected]

www.mustmagazines.com

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A lphabet Photography is the process of photo-graphing everyday objects that resemble letters of the alphabet, then arranging the pictures to-

gether to create any name or word. This unique letter art was inspired by the book "Alphabet City" illustrated and created by Stephen T. Johnson. Alphabet Photography is the work of photog-rapher Jennifer Blakeley, who spent 3 years traveling North America in a quest to complete her extensive portfolio of alphabet art. Today Jennifer and her hus-band Sam run the business together along with a won-derful team of people who have become like family to them. Alphabet Photography makes an ideal housewarming gift, wedding gifts and is a perfect personalized gift suitable for any occasion. Alphabet Photography is run in the UK by partner Mi-chael Wise. For more information about Alphabet Photography visit www.alphabet-photography.co.uk.

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Round Wood owner Zac Soudain with a huge Easter Island head made from concrete — but you can move it! Usual retail price is £1 100 but Must Magazine readers pay only £900!

www.roundwood.com

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Must Magazines Spring 2010 www.flexibleloveuk.co.uk

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Must Magazines Spring 2010 www.fcilondon.co.uk

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For more about Helen and her fine work, please visit her website at: www.helenbrownceramics.co.uk

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TÜv{|àxvà Éy _|z{à Mar

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Vos

Jean Michel Jarre move over...

M arcel Jean Vos is in town! London’s architect of light is

here to dazzle our retinas spectacu-lar fashion. Dutch by birth, inter-national lifestyle intact, Marcel ini-tially trained as an architectural de-signer, lived and still lives life to the full and one day decided that too little emphasis was placed upon the influence of light over mood. Vos LED was born and now in 2010

there is Vos Kristall. Marcel has a showroom at the Chelsea Har-bour Design Centre, the perfect location for weaving new ideas and products into the world of design. ‘Flight Chandeliers’ are the latest addition to the range, launched at London Design Week 2010. This product is simply stunning and very clever, similar to the classic chandelier, but with a twist. Each of the 18 arms sus-pended individually around a central body pendant, lit solely by four recessed, trimless LED down lights. The effect is mesmeris-ingly ghost like, as softly lit glass and crystal

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pendants hang seamlessly from the ceiling. The flexible design allows for a variety of configurations from single units for bath-rooms, a few units above a bedside table to linear rows above dining room tables, ar-ranged exactly the way you want. Marcel’s knowledge of LED lighting, sup-ported by business partner Laura Sole’s de-sign flair and you have the formidable duo behind Vos Kristall. The chandeliers are made from German crystal designed and manufactured in-house. Clients can deter-mine the grade of crystal to order, obviously affecting the cost, but you will get some change back from £350 for an individual pen-

dant . There are many different grades of crystal and between Laura and Marcel and your own homework, you should make sense of it all. Also have a look at this Wikipedia link on crystal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_crystal . The range goes further to include crystal cur-tains and ellipses. A visit to the website is advised... Trade and retail clients are welcome to visit the Chelsea showroom and stockists world-wide are encouraged to make enquiries. Visit the website at www.voskristall.com

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Left The Suspension Range Flight Chandeliers are entirely safe to install in bathrooms and other wet areas as they contain no electrical components. A product specification is avail-able to view on the next page describing the various applica-tions of the range and below we have the chandeliers in situ col-oured by indirect lighting .

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Must Magazines Spring 2010 www.mustmagazines.com

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Must Explore GB Design May 2010