CCI-newsletter-1980-29-November-December

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1980

NEWSLETTER

LTD. Thomas Prior House, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

Telephone 01 680764

Annual Conference "Why Design?", the theme of the Crafts Council's Annual Conference was covered in interesting depth by the panel of speakers. It was a pity that the attendance was less than at the two previous conferences as the quality of the presentation was very high and, with a subject matter of this sort, the emphasis was on the visual which cleverly underlined the points being made, themselves being telling ones.

Rising costs of the type of Annual Conference held for the past three years are an obvious deterrant, especially to younger craftsmen and students. It is to this group that the theme of the 1980 Conference was primarily aimed, rather than to the participants who did attend and who were, in the main, full time professionals who were fully aware of many of the points of discussion.

Serious consideration will be given to devise a change of format for the next conference so that it will ensure not only a continuance of the quality of the content but also be no discouragement to attracting those who can most benefit from this type of seminar.

Planning has already commenced insofar as an analysis of the various factors is concerned and the aim will be to ensure that both the format and the speakers will be decided on at an early enough date in 1981 to be able to publicise both fully and revitalise what is an important occasion for all craftsmen, not just the converted.

The Chairman wishes all craftsmen and members a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year

Helen Harvesty, Letterfrack, County Galway, Blanaid Reddin, Chairman, Crafts Council, Anne Mullins, Tuam, and Sean Me Lough Iin, Chairman, Galway Association of Craftworkers.

Chairman Opens Conference Miss Blanaid Reddin, Chairman of the Crafts Council of Ireland, speaking at the opening reception, thanked the Galway Association of Craftworkers who were the hosts. "This in fact is the opening of the Conference and I take this opportunity to say how pleased we are to be in Galway finally. The Association here have been asking for a conference in the west since our first conference."

Miss Reddin went on to say that "while, perhaps, not the most densely populated area in terms of craftsmen, the fact that this important conference, with a theme essential to all craftsmen, is taking place in the west may encourage more craftsmen to settle here.

"There are developments in Roundstone and in Letterfrack which are designed to give every facility to craftsmen and we hope that these will soon come to fruition and be a focal point for the west."

She mentioned also that the Council had now taken on a Crafts Officer whose main task would be the closer co-operation between the Council and the local associations, and the hope of maximising the potential of the Association members of the Council to their benefit and the benefit of craftsmanship as a whole.

Craftsman has the Freedom to Innovate Speaking at the Annual Conference, "Why Design?", Mr Raymond Turner of Kilkenny Design Workshops said that as an industrial designer he designs things he cannot make. "I design things not only that I rannot make, but which I could not make if I tried; and I don't try. Yet, curiously enough, you are to blame for me. As a result of the nineteenth century revolution in technology and the population explosion, which together brought about mass production, the craftsman of yesterday evolved into the designer of today. " I t is a very big jump from the man who makes things to his own design, to the man who designs things for other people, and machines, to make. A lot must have been lost and forgotten on the way, so there is a great deal a designer could and should learn by going back to his beginnings; to craftsmanship. Equally there must be ways in which the craftsman can gain from the experience and new ways of thinking of the industrial designer."

The ultimate aim of good design he saw as improving living standards by utilising the.skilIs developed over the years.

"There are five tests by which a product or system can be judged as having been designed well: 1. That what is designed should be appropriate for its purpose and use.

2. That materials and energy are used wisely.

3. That what is made fulfils a need rather than pampers to a want.

4. That they please our senses, most often sight, but also touch and hearing and sometimes even smell.

5. That they make economic sense, and can be produced at a price that is both desirable and achievable; not forgetting that their use and ultimate disposal must consume the minimum of energy and not degrade the ecological balance.

"Whan any of these five tests fail, whether the design is for a cathedral, an airport, an engagement ring or a tea cup, the result is bad design."

Mr Turner suggested that, while all this seems to make good sense, to judge by many of our products and environments, we don't care nearly enough about design.

"The media overflows with criticism of everything, except what is in continual use day in, day out. There are debates about paintings and books, plays and films, television and so forth; but surprisingly little critical appreciation of

products and environments.

"Where there is such appreciation, it is heavily concerned with fashions and aesthetics, and terribly little with the practicalities. This is illustrated by the many misleading newspaper reports on new cars and houses. There is nowhere to look at all for any objective criticism of more common artefacts like tea cups or pens.

"The result of this lack of interest is that the designer might well wonder where his first responsibility lies. To fashions? To profits? To the manufacturer who employs him? To the consumer who uses his product? Or, more remotely, to society perhaps?

"There are all too many designers who answer these questions badly, or who don't even listen to them at all.

Designers whose whole life is concerned with unreality. They devise the useless to be made cheaply and easily, and which can be foisted on a public that is taught to want what it does not need at prices it cannot afford."

Mr Turner considered designers to have an enormous responsibility. They must select their commissions carefully; they must balance their considerations; they must not spend their lives exclusively in the pursuit of fashion and profits.

Fashion can lead away from safety; profits for a manufacturer can mean losses to consumers. Different consider­ ations are not necessarily incompatible, but to make them compatible can often demand a lot. This responsibility is multiplied a hundred thousand times by the sheer statistics of mass production.

One mistake by one man at a drawing board can have inconceivable results.

"A craftsman is in many ways the opposite of a designer. Compared with serving many masters you, the craftsman, serve none at all but yourself and your customer. You use your hands and get to know your chosen material and technique as no designer ever can. You synthesise all the specialists in one: the planner, the designer, the market specialist. You are at once the managing director, accoun­ tant and production line.

"You live with and love your materials, and your products are in a sense exten­ sions of yourself. Your whole process of innovation and development and manu­ facture is one. To analyse and breakdown the project elements, and responsibilities, as a designer must do, is probably incon­ ceivable to you. Your job should be an

organic one, and it would be impossible to analyse all the influences, consider­ ations and experience that make you what you are.

"What is more, the craftsman is much freer to experiment and to innovate than most designers. Perhaps in this the craftsman has the greatest advantage over the designer; in a potential for fun. The enjoyment you find in your materials and techniques is something that can be directly communicated through them.

That is something terribly lacking in our age of mass production. And this is significant, because real innovation so often comes from the happy accident.

Designers can brainstorm, and analyse, and discuss in committee, and pursue analogies until they are blue in the face, all the time coming up with improvements and short cuts and so forth, but nothing really new comes that way. " I t is the man in the corner, quite unconcerned with problems and their solutions, but happily messing about with electric wires, or with wood, or clay, or whatever it is that turns him on, who invariably comes up with the great idea.

And that is the way of the craftsman.

"What a pity it would be if he ever fell into the trap of simply emulating the designer and the mass-production techniques, having found a good thing, simply churned it out because it sold well. That, I suppose, must be the most dangerous trap the craftsman could fall into. Becoming a sort of inefficient version of the industries he competes with. Producing inferior things at superior prices, which he can command because of the very name "craftsman" to which he is being traitor. Finally, of course, his end is inevitable. Mechanisation beckons and he is just another industrialist and has lost the title craftsman for ever.

"Perhaps the only argument you have against doing this, or whatever the equiva­ lent is in your trade, is that you enjoy what you do.

"You may produce this argument apologetically, but I would suggest that it is not only a very full and complete answer just for you, but also a good answer in the whole context of society.

That enjoyment, that job, can communi­ cate itself, and provide a dimension to the living of your customers and other people that would otherwise be lacking.

"Designers have potential for going right or going wrong. However many people he

works for, however stringent are the technicalities that encumber his freedom, the ultimate responsibility for the product is still the designer's and his alone.

"I wonder if the craftsman is equally capable of going wrong? The fact that he is so much freer, and that he commands a respect in our society today, suggest that he is definitely capable of going wrong.

"If you are to be relevant today, then you must accept the responsibilities thrust upon you by the very industries and manufacturing processes I serve as a designer. In a world where precision, suitability and utility can be bought for a few pence by the consumer from a production line, and more and more often aesthetic satisfaction too, the craftsman will not survive long if his product is not better in every way.

"If the tea cup does not fit the saucer, if the jug pours badly, if the lid falls off the teapot when it is used, and a butter dish does not accommodate a standard pack of butter, or the wooden bowl twists because the moisture content is too high- what then?

"Sooner or later the public will surely ask, 'Is it enough that this is handmade?' or 'If this is made with love, is it made with enough love?' and finally, and most devastating of all, 'For what, after all, are we paying over the odds?'

"Maybe you are serving aesthetics, but that is only one point out of my five tests for good design. The others, perhaps are tests of ethics and responsibility, but in the end one out of five is not enough.

Five out of five is not going to be enough to ensure your survival as industry and industrial designers get better and better at their jobs. There is every reason why you can and should score over the odds against mass manufacturers.

"For me, designing is balancing considerations within a rigid framework of data; it is essentially problem-solving.

And yet for me answers are not extraneous things. Design is not a quality that is added or applied to a product. The right answers come implicit in the questions, the solutions are to be found in the problems. Implicit in the badly designed kettle, for example, is all that is needed to design it well. For you, surely, this is much more trje, for you are dealing immediately with things, not juggling processes and data and mass production considerations.

"You must be aware of the same questions designers ask and be convinced of their importance. You must not only

solve them but do so with that flair, that flash of intuition and insight that is the craftsman's stock in trade, and that grows from his mastery of materials. You must ask yourself is it right, necessary, and of the essence of your craft, that what you produce should serve its primary purpose well, and adapt as perfectly as possible to the user; be economic in terms of materials and energy used, have market appeal at the asking price and represent value for money.

"If you can answer 'yes' to these questions without reserve, then fulfilling them is something that can be safely left in your hands; literally in your hands. You have only to practise your skills to do so.

mm*

Council/or Byrne; speaker. Sir Basil Goulding BT; Miss Blanaid Reddin; Senator Justin Keating at the Conference dinner.

"I have touched upon what you and I have in common: the fundamental impulse from which all designers work and craftsmanship emanates. That is, the desire to better ourselves, to improve our circumstances and achieve more secure, less arduous, more pleasant and rewarding lives.

"I have the potential to score five out of five of my tests of good design, but never more. You have it within your reach to score more, and so to confront materialism with its answer. You can produce something better designed than anything my drawing board will ever see, or my client's factory will ever produce.

"To ignore the design criteria we have discussed is to suffer the consequences of design by default. Designing well on a day-to-day level is, to me, the whole fulfilment in my career. But to you it must be the minimum, the least that you must achieve before you can begin to be craftsmen. To master your materials, yes that first; your techniques, of course that too; but no less fundamental to your career and to the whole concept of the craftsman's place in the community is the fact that you must master practicality, appropriateness, suitability for the market, utility, good economics and value."

Gunna Moller Strom-Olsson, Shane de Blacam, Patricia Duignan photographed at the Annual Conference.

Berbhin Masten, Peter Wolstenholme, Noelle Verling, John Murphy and Ann Breen photographed at the Annual Conference.

Design Difficult to Define Rudolf Heltzel was emphatic that the word "design" must be one of the vaguest most difficult to define words around.

"Is it then any good to talk about design at all? I think it is, insofar as it can help to define our own view on the matter, which in turn will save us from detrac­ tions, prejudice and resentments when encountering ideas diammetrically opposed to our own views.

"There seems to be agreement that design is a necessary and important item in the pot of various ingredients that determine the success and appreciation of any craftsman. But ask different craftspeople what they would consider as success and appreciation and the answers will put emphasis on very different goals, which means that design will have to be approached from widely different angles."

For the purpose of his talk, he stereo­ typed craftspeople into two groups, both taken at their extremes. On the one side, the artist-craftsman; on the other, the market-oriented producer of craft items.

For the first, design is self centred, aiming at within; for the latter, design is for the consumer, aiming at outward communi­ cation. The design approach for these two groups can be worlds apart.

The artist-craftsman he saw as basically wanting to express himself in his work.

He strives to use his chosen medium to develop his ideas, to translate his message into a communicable language. His designs are part of himself and they develop with his own personal develop­ ment. He is delighted if he gets a response to his designs from other people, but he will do his thing even if he gets no appreciation, simply because he knows he is "right." His designs are the fruit of his intellectual and artistic develop­ ment, and they first of all have to satisfy himself.

His designs will often develop at a far quicker pace than outsiders are able to follow. His material success is dependent on other people being willing and able to appreciate the expressions of his personality. He is lucky if his personality, as expressed in his works, is accessible and can be understood by outsiders; unlucky if his ideas run counter to prevailing attitudes.

At the other extreme, there is the crafts­ man who is not concerned with his own ideas and personality. His designs are the result of his wish to have maximum communication with other people. He tries to determine what type of design would be appreciated by as wide a

variety of people as possible, the stimuli for design come from outside and he translates these into his medium. His designs will be concurrent to general trends and he will only change or modify them when he senses that attitudes are changing.

Very few craftsmen belong exclusively to one of these extremes. "Most of us are somewhere in between and I think it would benefit all of us to analyse where we stand and if that is the position we really want to be in. Once we know our position we shall be able to determine what factors must exert influence on our designs and these in turn will indicate how to go about selling our goods.

"If we put ourselves in the centre position between the two mentioned extremes, we find that we have to con­ sider a great number of factors that must influence design. The farther we move from this centre in either direction, the stronger the influence of certain factors will become. We have to consider our­ selves, our mental capacity and manual ability. Do we enjoy the search for new designs and can we critically assess our own designs?

"How great is our proficiency in the craft, can we physically do what we would like to do, do we have consistency?

"We have to cope with the environmental pressures and influences, even tools and workshops. Restrictions are placed on us or freedoms given by raw materials and their costs, by processes to be employed.

"What effects have fashions, trends, prices, the economic climate, VAT rates on our designs?

"What groups of consumers are we aiming at, who could we imagine to buy our products? What type of income do we expect, how great are our overheads?

"All these things and probably a lot more must have an influence on our designs, like it or not, and most likely restrict and restrain us considerably."

Mr Heltzel said that every craftsman, no matter how extreme or commonplace his designs are, has a chance of success, provided he knows what he wants to do, can identify the group of consumers that most likely would appreciate and buy his products and then approaches this particular group of consumers in the right way. It is therefore untrue to say that the market is restricting freedom of design for the craftsman. It is the crafts­ man himself who, by his own choice.

restricts himself to a certain section of the market.

"The artist-craftsman with his unique, advanced and personality-inspired designs may discover that the section of the market prepared to appreciate his designs is still smaller. Working here in Ireland he may find that there are only twenty, fifty or a hundred people with the means and appreciation to buy his work, which means that he can expect not more than maybe two, five or ten sales a year. If it is unlikely that he can survive on these few sales, he will have to sell abroad, where markets are bigger, or he will have to accept restrictions to his high flying design approach in order to appeal to a wider section of the market.

"The market orientated craftsman on the other hand may have been very diligent in his researches to discover what type of design his section of the market requires, only to find at the end that there are already fifty other producers who did exactly as he did and came to the same conclusions. Or he will find that he cannot produce at a cost acceptable to the market. He will be forced to modify his designs in order to stay competitive and achieve his aim.

"The situation most of us will repeatedly encounter during our lives as craftsmen is the situation where, because we do not get the deserved and necessary acknow­ ledgement for our work, we shall have to change our designs to suit our particular section of the market, or find a new section that approves of our present designs. This requires constant alertness and open-mindedness of the craftsman.

"Design has to build a bridge between the craftsman and the buyer of his work, it has to translate the craftsman's thinking processes into understandable and acceptable products. There are a great variety of approaches open to the crafts­ man—designer, but it is most important that each individual designer is aware of the approach he is taking and that he has figured out where it will take him to. Once he knows this, he has quite a lot of freedom, he only has to make sure he sticks to his route and stays within his chosen area."

The remaining papers presented at the Annual Conference will be printed in the next issue.

National Craft Design Competition More than 3,000,000 visitors come to Knock Shrine each year. This makes Knock one of the most intensive tourism areas in the country.

There is a natural inclination, especially on the part of overseas visitors, to purchase a souvenir of their pilgrimage to the Shrine and the souvenir business generates very substantial sums of money.

Most of this money currently goes to imported products—many of which are cheap and shoddy and certainly not in keeping with the dignity of the Shrine.

The National Craft Design Competition, being run under the auspices of the Irish Craft Centre, Knock and the Mayo County Development Team, aims to utilise this existing market to generate jobs within the county. At the same time, it is hoped to be able to make available to pilgrims an indigenous product of good quality and design at a reasonable price. It is felt that pilgrims will welcome the opportunity to buy a product made in the village of Knock itself.

Inlaid porcelain bowl by Leslie Reed Lidded jar by Peter Wolstenholme

It is intended to establish a cluster unit of craft workshops in Knock which will be made available to suitably qualified crafts people.

The competition itself is national in scope and carries a total prize fund of £3,500. The designs submitted should be capable of volume production by Irish craftsmen and craft based industries in Ireland.

There is a first prize of £1,000 for the best overall design and a further £1,000 for the best religious gift. Other prizes relate to designs submitted by students, designers living in Gaeltacht areas and the design of a product which can be marketed for £5 or less.

Allied Irish Banks Limited are the main sponsors of the competition and the other sponsors are listed on the accompanying entry form.

Mayo Industrial Enterprise Awards The Mayo Chapters of Junior Chamber of Ireland, namely Ballina, Ballinrobe, Ballyhaunis, Castlebar, Claremorris and Westport, are organising a £2,450 Awards Scheme to foster new industrial enterprise in the county. The Scheme, sponsored by Mayo County Development

Team, the Bank of Ireland and Udaras na Gaeltachta, was officially launched in Castlebar by Mr Raphael Burke TD, Minister of State at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, on 29 September 1980.

The top award of £1,000 will be made to the individual who submits the best proposal for a new manufacturing enterprise; £500 will be awarded to the runnerup and there will be a third prize of £250.

In addition, the best entry submitted by an individual born in, or resident in County Mayo will receive an award of £200.

Beidh duais speisialta de £500 do dhuine a bhfuil conai ais sa Ghaeltacht a chuireann an iontrail is fearr ar fail.

Details and entry form from Mayo County Development Team. Full proposal by 28 February 1981.

Potter is WCC President

Craf tmen Receive Technology Certificates

All potters and, indeed, craftsmen in general will be pleased to hear that Marea Gazzard was recently elected President of the World Crafts Council.

The completion of the first Pottery and Ceramics Technology Programme to be held in this country was marked by the presentation of certificates to the participants at a ceremony in the Head Office of AnCO, the Industrial Training Authority, on 29 October.

She first represented Australia in the WCC interests at the General Assembly in Peru in 1968 and has been Vice President for Asia for ten years. Her work as an artist/craftsman is well known in Australia and her creative ceramic forms are in many museums there as well as in collections elsewhere in the world.

Mr Brendan Daly TD, Minister of State at the Department of Labour and the Public Service, presented certificates to the twenty-seven participants.

In her acceptance speech, she said of WCC, and this relates to all craft organisations, "we have limited resources of finance but we have an unlimited source of people with great talents. Let us put this great wealth of talent to good use at national, regional and world level."

The year-long programme which was held in the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, is a foundation course for existing craft potters as well as managers in industrial potteries.

From the Exhibition "Ceramics and Silks'

Craft Workshop Potential at Newmarket Newmarket, Co Cork, is named Ath Trasna, meaning "a way across." The Irish name is apt because it is a beautiful village that crosses many ways of life.

The village has a population of 10,978 in its catchment area.

The local development association is bringing a new drive to bear in Newmarket and they have plans for small factory units serviced by a central communications complex so that the small business person will be provided with export marketing and back-up facilities.

Newmarket planning development already has buildings available, suitable for craftworkers, with a layout not unlike that at Ballycasey near Shannon, with a courtyard around a main building. The installation of the new telephone exchange will add to the communication network of major roads to outlets such as Cork and Mallow to the south, Limerick and Shannon to the north, and Tralee and Killamey to the west. The development will also include an adult education-cum-training centre, thus raising the skills' level of the local people who are keen to be involved in small industries.

Exhibition: Ceramics and Silks Adrienne Crowe and Pat Douglas showed arrangements of silk flowers in studio stoneware at the Trinity Arts Gallery, 20 College Lane, from 17 to 29 November.

This is the first time that art of flower arranging has been combined with skilled studio stoneware. Usually no show of flowers can last long enough for an exhibition, owing to the rapid deterioration of cut flowers. The problem has been overcome by the use of magnificent everlasting silk flowers.

New housing is being provided by the Regional Housing Authority.

Adrienne Crowe is a potter who also has a great love for the garden and the growth of plants. For a long time, she has wished to make a series of vases with unique qualities for an exhibition but the idea was near to impossible to achieve because of the extreme brevity necessitated by a show of fresh flowers. Hence her delight when she made the acquaintance of Pat Douglas. She immediately suggested an exhibition.

Enquiries for craft workshops should be made to John Roche, County Council member, at Clough, Rockchapel, County Cork.

The flowers were placed to show off both vase and arrangement to their best advantage and the result was original and successful.

A survey of the training needs of the pottery industry was completed by the Training Advisory Staff of the Chemical Section of AnCO in 1979. The course in Limerick was a direct response to the critical shortfall which the survey revealed in the level of technical expertise in both the industrial and craft sectors.

Mr Daly said that more up-market and distinctively Irish designs and products were needed if the present tourist demand for hand-made pottery was to be met.

The Limerick course is the first in Ireland to deal exclusively with the technological aspects of pottery production. The programme is also unique in that it is the first time in Europe that craft and industrial participants have been integrated on such a course.

He said that it was AnCO's intention to examine the results of the present course with a view to extending its activities into the highly important area of training in ceramic technology.

Craftsmen who received certificates were: Jeremy and Pauline Tyndale-Briscoe, Adrienne Crowe, Patricia Howard, Paul Martin, Radley Searle and Patrick Weston and "apprentices" who also completed the course were Helen Ahearne and Eoin Mellet, working with the Forristers in Bandon; Elizabeth Corcoran, working with the Searles; Gary Dickson, who works with Stoneware Jackson; Brian Keogh of the Geoffrey Healy Pottery; Margaret Lucas from Aherla Pottery; Yvonne O'Neill and Una Timmins from Enniskerry Pottery.