Marianna Kennedy
'The trouble with mass-produced objects is that they have no life. When you buy them they are already dead. The best furnishings have something of their maker in them, and then they take on the life of the owner too. People like antiques because they sense this living quality."
-Jim Howett - Marianna Kennedy's collaborator.
"There is nothing self-conscious or pretentiously arty in any of this. Marianna and Jim are both driven by love of the work, and a desire to make contemporary objects using traditional techniques, and developing those techniques where necessary. 'We want to keep skills alive, but we want to do modern work,' says Jim.
'We never make reproductions. We use the past as a guide and then we re-invent it.' When Jim isn't designing furniture, you'll find him drawing up plans to help people in Spitalfields restore their houses in a way that is neither slavish nor garish, Marianna is likely to be nearby, in her old apron on her hands and knees, messing with lime-wash. She laughs, and shows me the stains on her hands..."
(excerpt taken from here, Jeanette Winterson)
recent work by
Marianna Kennedy atGalerie Chastel-Maréchal
now til Nov 11,2011
-------------