The Craft of Bespoke at Linley – London Craft Week 2019

Design, craftsmanship and innovation – central to the LINLEY ethos – are celebrated and encouraged in the studio and workshops, alongside the quintessentially British characteristics of sophistication, wit and charm. During London Craft Week, LINLEY opened the doors of its flagship showroom in Belgravia to reveal the intricacies involved in its renowned marquetry and the making of other bespoke products by QEST alumni.

Louise Parry, who spent two weeks learning advanced silversmithing techniques with Rod Kelly on a QEST Scholarship in 2016, brought along a lathe and examples of the silver and gold clocks that she makes to commission. Glass artist Effie Burns showed how she uses engraving to transform the surface texture of glass; alongside was a glass cast of her left hand, a symbol of emotion and unconscious thought, on which she places her delicate sculptures. There was a constant, skilful tap of mallet on chisel as Wayne Hart carved letters in stone, and QEST Garfield Weston Foundation Scholar Thomas Merrett, who sketches from life then makes sculptures from the drawings and memories so he can focus on the natural rhythm of a composition, worked on a clay figure.

In anticipation of Wild Formation, her month-long solo exhibition at LINLEY, Kerry Lemon spent three days hand painting the windows with botanical illustrations to complement her highly tactile, mixed media collages made with combinations of paint, ink, stitch, pencil, print, pastel and gilding.

This article was originally written by Karen Bennett for the Summer 2019 QEST magazine.