Meet The Maker – Jane Booth

Jane Booth – Ceramicist

Jane thinks the small pleasures of life should be treasured; don’t we all? For her one aspect of this involves using everyday items that are made in mouthwatering colours that make her smile – such as her pink ‘bejewelled’ Russian doll keyring and her purple leather satchel. For this reason she makes pots suitable for everyday use that are practical, pretty and unique.

Jane’s ceramic mugs

All Jane’s pottery is thrown on a wheel and then decorated with coloured slips, a transparent glaze and ceramic transfers. She uses terracotta clay, as she likes the warmth and richness of the colour and the effect that is created when the clay breaks through the softly coloured slips.

Jane’s ceramic mugs

Jane is inspired by the colours and patterns of some of her favourite things – vintage fabric and china; paintings (particularly from the eighteenth century); illustrated children’s literature; ice cream and macaroons!

 

Jane’s ceramic bowls

We love Jane’s work at Heart Gallery and know that you will too.

Jane’s ceramic mugs and jugs

Meet The Maker – Jill Govier

Jill Govier – textile artist

Jill is a lifelong avid seamstress and finds the tactile qualities of fabrics and thread lend themselves beautifully as a means to express herself.

Elderly couple with Ice Cream stitched canvas

Her work is heavily influenced by her passion for both textiles and words. She incorporates beautiful old fabrics and vintage finds alongside contemporary prints to create quirky textiles and practical home wares.

Cushion

Cushions, purses, peg bags, canvasses and more recently, handbags made from recycled tweet jackets are the mainstays of her designs.

Peg bags

Text features highly in her work in the form of quotes from famous people or children’s stories, sometimes motivational, sometimes with a sense of fun.

Key fobs

Jill clearly remembers tackling her mum`s treadle Singer sewing machine, making dolls clothes and stuffed creatures from whatever fabrics she could find around the house. She had an old book called `A 100 things a girl can make` and had a go at all of them!

Cushion

Jill believes she was born with an unabated obsession with textiles and what she could make out of them and now she gets to do it for a living! Recycling & reusing textiles has become something of a passion for her, some of the everyday vintage fabrics she comes across are amazing and have such potential!

Quote purse & key fobs

Jill is also drawn to the bright contemporary prints that are in the shops nowadays, mixing old with new and making beautiful things has become her favourite thing to do! Here at Heart Gallery we love the words and quotes Jill uses in her work as they often strike a chord with customers and we see them giggling whilst they choose that extra special gift or even end up treating themselves instead!

Make Up Bag

New Work

Well, off to Londinium Thursday to The Greats Awards and acting like a giddy kipper at the prospect of 2 days away from work! I have had to pay for this time off this week though! I have seen more makers this week and have lots of lovely new work due in Saturday when I return. One maker from Ilkley brought me gorgeous pieces made from vintage recycled fabrics – one lavender bag has been made from fabric she had as curtains in the’70s! Another maker has developed a technique for making jewellery from vintage scrabble tiles embossed with japanese papers and glazed – all presented in a matching tin. 

No images yet folks as I want to keep you guessing but call in Saturday and you will not be disappointed.

Oh, and one maker has just finished a commission of an absolutely gorgeous red sparkly crown for my customer’s 3 year old granddaughter and it is so lovely sitting proud on a red velvet cushion – I promise you a photo soon!

Bye for now, see you Saturday.

Alison

Makepiece – truth and beauty

After much anticipation the new Spring/Summer range from Makepiece has now arrived in Heart Gallery, and boy was it worth the wait! Beautiful clothes with ethics. For hundreds of years, farmer makers in our Pennine valley have produced wool, spun it and created fabric pieces. Makepiece has taken their legacy and created a collection of clothes for the future. Natural yarns from sustainable farming. Undyed and natural dyed options. Low impact manufacture. Fair employment. Working to be carbon neutral. 

The story of the yarns Makepiece use starts with sheep. Our landscape is shaped by centuries of ovine grazing, from bleak Lakeland peaks to the beaches of northerly Hebridean islands to lush southern pastures. Makepiece use the cream of fibre produced in the UK through their association with Prestige Fibres. Their wool is accredited by the British Wool Marketing Board.

Spinning is traditional to West Yorkshire. The best wool is collected and cleaned to remove grease, combed into tops which are then spun. Most of their yarns are spun locally, by specialist mills in Bradford and Halifax, within 20 miles of the Makepiece studio. These yarns are highly unusual and very special, the produce of years of experience and expertise.

Makepiece love colour, but colouring processes can be unkind to the environment and to the yarn. Makepiece choose their palette from undyed yarn – some of it from sheep with naturally black, brown or grey fleece, organic dyestuffs, natural dye and environmentally monitored chlorine free synthetic dye processes.

Makepiece’s collections are designed in the Makepiece studio by Nicola. Garments are knitted by specialist knitters and by a small traditional lace knitting factory. Some garments are felted after knitting to create a textured knitted fabric. All Makepiece clothes are hand finished. Makepiece make all their pieces in the UK.