Monthly Archives: May 2023

May 18th is International Museum Day. The theme of the International Day of Museums 2023 is Museums, Sustainability and Wellbeing. Life with museums is beautiful. The word "museum" originates from the Greek "museion", originally meaning "place for worship of the Muse". Nowadays, museums have become an important place for preserving human civilization and placing our souls.

Here, we recommend 20 museums, including new ones that have opened in the past two years, as well as museums that are under construction and will soon be completed, to add to your travel list.

We will divide them into two parts, this is the part 1.

10 Newly Buildup Museums

01 Grand Egyptian Museum

Giza Governorate

image via Archdaily

Long waiting 20 years, the Grand Egyptian Museum finally opened its lobby and other areas for trial operation on February 11th, 2023. Over the past 20 years, the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum has brought together efforts from all over the world, including the architectural design team of Ireland, the landscape design team of Germany, the design supervision and repair team of Japan...

The Grand Egyptian Museum cleverly depends on the difference in terrain elevation, presenting a sense of staggered height and irregular design like a ruffle. The building's three radial axes point to the three pyramids in the distance, reflecting the glorious feeling of no distance.

The facade of the museum is covered with marble collected from the quarry in Sinai, a building material used by the ancient Egyptians. The wall design is also full of ancient Egyptian elements, from hieroglyphics to desert oases, presenting Egyptian cultural classics in the form of patterns. The solid triangular shape forms a link with the pyramid group not far away.

The museum applies transparent glass curtain walls. At sunset and sunrise, the sunlight will flood the square at a perfect angle, shining the passageway and perfectly highlighting the brilliance of Egyptian civilization.

02 Museum of the Future

Dubai, UAE

image via Archdaily

Dubai, an inconceivable city, all whimsical ideas can be realized here.

The Museum of the Future, which officially opened to the public in February 2022, is located on a green mound. Its outlook is an oval hollow circle, carved with Arabic characters. From a distance, it looks like an eye watching the city, full of science fiction. Without a single column, the building is one of the most advanced structures ever built, pushing the limits of design.

The green hills represent a stable, eternal earth, while the "hollow" represents humans exploring the "unknown," the designers said.

The museum gets refined internally and externally, not only with eye-catching appearance, but also with surreal experience inside. The text of the architectural appearance is the skylight in the interior. There are seven floors in the interior space, each with a different theme.

03 Hong Kong Palace Museum

Hong Kong, China

image via Archdaily, photo by Edmon Leong

Four years in the making, Hong Kong's Palace Museum has attracted much attention since its opening. The museum was designed by one of Hong Kong's top architects, Xunqi Yan, who wanted to combine the modern flavor of Hong Kong with the atmosphere of traditional Chinese architecture.

The main body is a seven-story building, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, resembling an ancient Chinese vessel called a square ding. This design facilitates air circulation, which helps to preserve the collection, and also cleverly allows the ground floor to retain maximum open space and greenery.

The interior design is inspired by the layout of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The atrium space is vertically progressive, and then the vertical central axis connects different floors together, with a distinct sense of hierarchy. The ceiling of the atrium is a modern interpretation of the glazed tile on the roof of the Forbidden City, reflecting the continuation of cultural blood.

04 Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Los Angeles, USA

image via Archdaily

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which opened in September 2021, is the largest institution in the United States dedicated to the art, science and artists of filmmaking, covering more than 270,000 square meters. Designed by Pritzker Prize winner Renzo Piano, the building continues its "high-tech" style and gives the experience of sci-fi movies.

The museum was initially built in 1939 as a department store. The architectural renewal has retained the original building and injected new vitality into it, adding a soaring sphere of architecture, which contains passionate ideas that transcend geography and disciplines, and weaving the story of film in the language of design.

05 The new National Museum

Oslo, Norway

image via Archdaily, photo by Iwan Baan

In June 2022, the Nordic countries' largest art museum opened, the new National Museum of Norway, which brings together the collections of Norway's three most important art institutions -- the Former Industrial Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Gallery. The building was designed by Kleinhues + Schuwerk Gesellschaft von Architekten.

The building is divided into two parts: upper and lower. The bottom is made of durable materials such as oak, bronze and marble, and covered with copious amounts of grey Norwegian schist. At the top is a translucent warm luminous body called the Light Hall, which is fitted with 9,000 energy-saving LED lights like a giant transparent lampshade.

06 Suzhou Museum West Hall

Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

image via Suzhou Museum

Suzhou Museum West Hall officially opened on September 25th, 2022. Suzhou Museum West Hall is designed by GMP Architects, a German architecture firm. The architectural design concept is derived from Suzhou classical residential houses and streets full of fireworks. The building integrates the scenery of the lake and the mountains, and interprets the history and the future with modern simple architectural language.

The design of the West Pavilion is full of elements that pay tribute to the designer of the new Suzhou Museum, I. M. Pei. The garden-style layout, the wisteria flower frame transplanted from the museum, and the abstract lines of the octagonal pavilion in the exhibition hall are both exhibits and partitions of the fake rocks... They were all Pei's favorites.

07 Sui-Tang Dynasties Grand Canal Cultural Museum

Luoyang, Henan Province, China

image via TJAD, photo by Rao Li

In the middle of May 2022, the Sui-Tang Dynasties Grand Canal Cultural Museum, which covers half of the history of Luoyang Canal, was officially opened. It has been called "Luoyang Aesthetic Ceiling" and "representative of the most beautiful museum" on the social network.

The unique curved roof of the Grand Canal Museum of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, an element extracted from Sui and Tang architecture by architect Li Li, realizes a dialogue between ancient and modern civilizations.

The interior of the museum is like an urban living room with transparent four sides. The large-span concrete arches in the museum seem to "move" Bridges into the space, which Outlines a unique spatial order. The colorful three-color installations give the space an artistic atmosphere.

08 Istanbul Museum of Modern Art

Istanbul, Turkey

image via Archdaily, photo by Cemal Emde

Designed by Renzo Piano Architects, the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Turkey's first museum of modern and contemporary art, opened to the public in May 2023. The museum's simple, industrial exterior contrasts with the original architecture of the Ottoman Empire.

Inspired by the sparkling waters of the Bosphorus, the facade is clad in 3D-shaped aluminium panels that glow in the sun and change throughout the day as the sun changes its appearance. A system of cylindrical concrete columns, reinforced by steel crosses, ensures the safety of the building in an earthquake-prone area.

09 Art Gallery of New South Wales

Sydney, Australia

image via Archdaily, photo by Iwan Baan

Close to the Sydney Opera House, the Art Gallery of New South Wales is one of Australia's largest public galleries. It was first built in 1871 at a cost of A $344 million by Tokyo-based studio SANAA, led by Pritzker winner Kazuyo Sejima and Ritsuhiro Nisshizawa, and includes a new separate building as well as a public art garden.

The transparent open space stands a contrast to the original 19th-century neoclassical building and provides a visual connection between the gallery's outdoor garden space and Sydney harbour. In addition to the building itself, the Art Gallery of NSW is also the first art museum in Australia to receive the highest rating for sustainable design.

10 FLUGT – Refugee Museum of Denmark

Oksbol, Denmark

image via designboom

FLUGT, a Danish refugee museum designed by BIG, is located in Oksbol, Denmark, the site of the largest refugee camp in Denmark during World War II. It was selected as one of the top 10 museums for 2022 by Designboom.

The original building is two long and narrow rectangular spaces. The architect introduces a curved "kink" between them to connect the two independent spaces. The curved new space is built with copper steel, which is integrated with the red brick wall of the old building.

"It will communicate to visitors one of the greatest challenges facing the world today: how we can welcome and care for our fellow citizens across the globe who have been forced to flee," said Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG Architects.

SOA Arts will update per month, introducing the international ceramic industry of the exhibition, competitions, conferences, and other information. Please keep following!

Ceramics Exhibitions in May

* Exhibitions are organized by closing time

The Space Between at Cavin-Morris Gallery

Duration: April 6 to May 27, 2023

Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York

Jazz musician Miles Davis famously said, “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them.” For Richard Serra, space is also a “material” whose expression precedes other issues. Both the pause of time and the nothingness of space are the design principles of negative space. This philosophy holds that absence is as powerful as presence, and emptiness gives substance to the vacuum and defines the tangible. Marc Leuthold keeps the “empty” moments within his finely sculpted negative space of the wheel, whose intricate crests and troughs of radiating patterns correspond to the rhythms of musical notes and rests. Allan Drossman’s charred clay vessels draw the viewer’s eye to the hard interior of the vessel, the vibrant, hidden whirlpool depths, and so on. Each of the artists in the exhibition “Between Empty Spaces” uses the unfilled Spaces in their work as a basic element and gives meaning to their work.

Murata Gen: The Heart’s Eye

Duration: April 24 to May 17, 2023

Dai Ichi Arts, New York

The exhibition is the first solo show by Motogen Murata, a Japanese folk art movement artist, at Dai Ichi Arts in New York. The exhibition reflects the function and form of the objects in Murata’s pottery works, focusing on his sensitivity to the effect of the glaze. Born in 1904, Murata first studied painting at the Kansai Academy of Fine Arts before the outbreak of the First World War shifted his career from painter to ceramist. Murata’s training in classical painting made him an expert in the surface decoration of ceramic objects. He often used unique glaze effects on the surface of the objects to represent “scenery”. In addition, Murata has always admired Shoji Hamada’s pottery works, and followed his footsteps in the promotion of the folk art movement.

In addition to Murata Gen’s works, the exhibition “Murata Gen: The Heart’s Eye” also lays out Japanese pottery works by artists of his time (Tatsuzo Shimaoka, Shoji Hamada, Kujiro Kawai, Ken Matsuzaki, etc.), showing different aspects of the Japanese folk art movement.

Elisa Braem: Amarillo Púrpura

Duration: March 25 to May 26, 2023

Galería Fermay, Palma

Galería Fermay is pleased to present Elisa Braem's solo show "Amarillo Púrpura." Elisa Braem is a ceramic-based sculptor. The idea of incorporating the concept of time and space into the characteristic sedimentary properties of clay has led her to explore themes related to the development of human culture and history.

This exhibition is inspired by nature, plants, flowers, in its most refined expression - the garden. The development of gardens is closely related to the development of human society. Historians and archaeologists extract information about ancient civilizations from historical sites of gardens to understand the degree of cultural, economic and political complexity at that time. Gardens are undoubtedly repositories of information on the ability of human societies to manage natural resources (such as water) through mathematics and engineering. They are also places where inspiration, religious beliefs and philosophical ideas spring up. They are public and private Spaces for contemplation or relaxation, as well as profound beauty.

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl: Probing the Floor, Sniffing the Air

Duration: May 5 to June 17, 2023

HB381 Gallery, New York

HB381 Gallery is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in the United States by Danish ceramist Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl (born 1954). Kaldahl, now an emeritus professor at the Royal Danish Academy, has spent the past decade repeatedly exploring a theme: as a “knot” in spatial graphics. He has an open attitude to creation and is often inspired by everyday events, which are recorded on paper or on his smartphone in the form of sketches. So there’s an endless stream of creative possibilities, ideas that will settle over time. When Caldar began the actual production process, the potential of the sketch would gradually unfold as the creative process came before him in the form of a work. Caldar’s works are non-narrative, but emphasize the importance of the relationship between the scale of the work and the spatial form, and the ability of the interactive relationship between the work, the space and the audience to convey the emotional content. Although each work is highly personalized, the works appear as a whole sequence within the space, each related to the next, forming a number of repeated spatial relationships that evoke the viewer’s familiar sense of imagery.

やきものにうたう：ハンガリー現代陶芸展

Duration: April 22 to July 2, 2023

Gallery I, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu

Hungary, with its vast plains and the Danube River flowing north and south, has developed a unique pottery culture, which is still active today.

Based on the historical background of the development of Hungarian ceramics, this exhibition, an academic collaboration between Gallery I, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu and the National Arts and Crafts Museum in Budapest, introduces the flow of contemporary ceramic art in Hungary since the 1960s, from the socialist era after World War II to the democratization era in 1989, to the present day. Both Hungarian masters and emerging artists are expressing drastic social changes through their own ways of expression, and through this exhibition, I hope the world can listen to the diverse "voices" of Hungarian ceramists.

Funk You Too! Humor and Irreverence in Ceramic Sculpture

Duration: March 18th to August 27th, 2023

Museum of Arts and Design, MAD

Funk art is an American art movement that rejects the non-subjectivity of abstract expressionism. Funk art once again used image as a subject in painting, rather than being limited to the non-figurative abstract forms depicted by abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.

Funk ceramics, on the other hand, first appeared on the West Coast in the 1960s by a group of artists with an anti-establishment view of “good art.” Now, the works of a new generation of funk artists are featured in this exhibition, which embraces the radical attitudes and aesthetics of earlier funk artists while examining the potential for artistic expression in clay through a unique perspective. For these contemporary artists, humor is not just an aesthetic strategy, but also a tool of resistance, recovery and healing. These artists’ practices shed the original funk bias towards arts and crafts and clay, and they created work in a multidisciplinary environment where the hierarchical boundaries between craft and art were melting. They are using the humorous power of funk art to address some of today’s most pressing social and political issues, and to bring funk art into the future.

Julian Stair: Art, Death and the Afterlife

Duration: March 18 to September 17, 2023

Sainsbury Centre, Norwich

Stair’s pottery was created in the context of the global pandemic, hoping to explore contemporary society’s relationship with death and ritual. Drawing inspiration from the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts’ collection of ancient clay POTS and burial objects, Steyer’s work - from cremains to some huge abstract representations - invites the viewer to consider the intimate relationship between pottery and the human body. There are about 30 new works by Steil in the exhibition, ranging from 40cm in height to two metres in size. Steil’s ability to work on such a scale is unique among British potters. He uses natural, unprocessed clays because of their subtle color and texture, which after firing produce shades ranging from charred tan to yellow-ochre - the rich undertones of “earth” itself.

Torbjorn Kvasbo: Incarnate

Duration: April 24 to September 23, 2023

Ceramic Art Avenue Art Gallery, Jingdezhen City, China

Using the concept of “Incarnate” as its theme, the exhibition will feature 15 new works, three art installations and 23 works created since 2010 by Torbjorn Kvasbo during his residence in Taoxichuan. “Pipe” stacking is its most representative art language, this new work in Jingdezhen adopts Jingdezhen characteristics of high white clay, shadow green glaze and red glaze. The artist tries to connect his works with the city by using local materials such as porcelain jars and POTS produced by the local ceramic factory in Jingdezhen, arousing people’s thinking about the current situation of the traditional porcelain industry in the city, and explore the possibility of these industrially-produced ceramic products in another way, so that they can be revitalized in different contexts. Have the material containing Chinese culture be extended in the work.

SOA Arts – Ceramic Art Sculptures for Hotels, Corporates, and More

What does SOA Arts mean? Our company is named save on art(SOA ARTS), because we hope that everyone who likes art can own our works of art at a good price. We want to extend beautiful things to different corners as far as possible.

At the same time, save on art also call on people not to throw away the existing artworks easily. You can use these artworks in another scene, or do some DIY to make ; the artworks glow with new luster and energy.

At SOA Arts, we know how hard it can be to find the large ceramic artwork you’re looking for. Fortunately, we have over 10 years of experience in making our clients’ interior design dreams a reality.

As a leading Chinese factory, we have everything we need to source, curate, commission, and produce exactly what you’re looking for. Get in touch and we’ll be happy to get the ball rolling.

Start your art project commissions today. 

When it comes to artificial intelligence, it reminds us of the arts and crafts movement that emerged in Britain at the end of the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution gave birth to large-scale mechanized production and industrial production models, resulting in the gradual elimination of handmade and traditional crafts, and an increasing number of craftsmen lost their livelihoods. Therefore, some artists, designers and social activists launched the Arts and Crafts movement, hoping to restore the production mode of hand-making and traditional crafts, protect the traditional skills of hand-making, and advocate the art of "man-made, shared by people, makers and users".

This year's London Crafts Week (May 8-14) follows the coronation of Charles III on May 6, so the global crafts show also includes an exploration of objects involved in these royal rituals, such as the gold embroidery of ceremonial costumes and commemorative coins and jewellery from the Royal Mint.

This is the ninth year of London Craft Week, and the work and skills of more than 400 crafters from 25 countries will be on display at workshops and fairs, exhibitions and talks across London. Here, we pick out some of the highlights of Craft Week.

Material Beings

Material Being is an artist-led exhibition that pushes the conceptual nature of artisan practice through a radical reconstruction of materiality. The show brings together eight artists and designers to explore the material potential of craftsmanship, from metal and wood to leather and clay.

Among the participating artists, metalsmith Francisca Onumah created anthropomorphic "imperfect" containers; Sculptor Alida Kuzemczak-Sayer uses torn and folded mulberry paper to create works; Experimental designer Marlene Huissoud explores insect materials and habitats.

Each artist draws us into an intimate exploration of physical and mental states based on our physical sense of the physical world, promoting the transition between the natural and the unnatural. The exhibition provides a space for matter itself to permeate our thinking, questioning where self-perception ends and the physical world begins.

Light of Weaving: Labour-Hand-Hours

This stunning vessel, created by 2022 Loewe Foundation Craft Award winner Dahye Jeong, looks as if it is made of lace. These delicate baskets and bowls are actually woven from horse hair.

Horse hair has been used to make male headdresses in Jeong's native Korea since the 14th century. Her special talent lies in transforming traditional materials into modern and unique objects. Her London exhibition is called "mind, hand and time."

Meanwhile, the Korea Cultural Center is hosting a group exhibition of contemporary Korean weaving called "Light of Weaving: Labour-Hand-Hours", using traditional materials such as bamboo, horse hair, wood and glass. Several of the artists have been praised for preserving traditional Korean craftsmanship, including Daeyong Jo's finely woven bamboo curtains, Dongsik Kim, who has preserved Korea's best fan-making technique, and Kyouhong Lee, one of the country's best glass artists. The exhibition highlights the time it takes to achieve innovation and individuality through a single material. At the same time, transparent and translucent materials contrast with each other to play with light, shadows and contours.

Quilts: A Material Culture

This exhibition at the new Batsford Gallery in East London, dedicated to the artistic potential of contemporary quilt-making, showcases the work of five artists. A quilt is multilayered, complex in substance and meaning. It is at once intimate and communal, autobiographical and communal. Quilts connect us all to memory and narrative, to traces of community and history through threads and fragments.

Sophie Giller's bright, colorful textile works are often autobiographical, and through them she explores themes of care, labor, emotion and social history.

Kate Williams' playful quilt depicts imaginary architectural forms that reference 1980s postmodernism and the surrealist paintings of Giorgio de Chirico.

Meanwhile, Julius Arthur, founder of design studio Quinn House, draws his seemingly abstract designs from places and objects he encounters, including fishing crates in a Portuguese port and rock formations in Cornwall.

The Mills Fabrica

Mills Fabrics, a sustainable innovation hub based in King's Cross, will host exhibitions, talks and workshops to explore the potential of crafts. The growing evolution of biodesign -- turning living materials such as microbes, bacteria and fungi into designs -- can be experienced in action at the exhibition here.

Experience the combination of silk screen printing and Colorifix's bacterial dyeing technique under the leadership of textile print designer Ruth Lloyd. Learn how bacterial pigments can be a sustainable alternative to traditional petroleum dye systems and how these pigments can be used in conjunction with traditional and innovative textile pattern processing techniques. At the same time, there is an opportunity to participate personally in the process by screen printing using a deactivated bacterial pigment printing stock.

Colorifix is a biotechnology company based in the United Kingdom that pioneered the first entirely biological process to produce, precipitate and fix pigments to textiles. Using a synthetic biology approach, it offers a radically different solution that could completely cut the use of harsh chemicals and drastically reduce water consumption. Colorifix designs colors in the lab and supplies less than 5 ml of pigment to customer factories and dyeing plants, which they support by growing these pigments on-site through fermentation technology.

Colorifix offers an alternative to synthetic dyes while meeting key quality standards in the industry. They are trying to mimic nature's blueprint and, by sequencing DNA, find out the instructions that nature encodes in living organisms to make pigments. They then turn that information into their engineered microbes and grow the color, similar to the fermentation technology used to make beer. In doing so, they have drastically reduced their use of chemicals, water and energy. Colorifix is working to build a waste-free world and reduce the footprint of the fashion industry.

Naze naze, a Shanghai handicraft organization, will also hold a workshop called The Rainbow Weavers. Naze naze was founded by ZUCZUG in 2020, but its history can be traced back to 2015's Dulong Project.

Naze naze: The Rainbow Weavers

By working with local female textile workers from the Dulong River Valley along the China-Myanmar border, naze naze aims to connect urban lifestyles with traditional craftsmanship, fuse time-honored techniques with modern tastes, and build mutual understanding between individuals through textiles made from soft wool and cotton. Since its inception, all profits have been reinvested in the local community and the sustainability of the studio. 

Visit the exhibition and attend this learning-and-making workshop to hear behind-the-scenes stories about weavers and how to develop color combinations for naze naze products. You can also create your own color combinations using yarn used by textile workers and take home a small gift.

The Royal Bearer's Tour

The Royal Family has long supported British artisan manufacturers, and today more than 800 companies in the UK have been awarded the Royal Emblem for their services to the royal family. 

During Craft Week, some of these companies will offer behind-the-scenes Tours and demonstrations, including perfume making at the Floris Perfumery; Master styling classes at Truefit &Hill; Lectures by hat maker Lock&Co and shoemaker John Lobb; And a visit to Rachel Trevor-Morgan's studio, which makes hats for Queen Elizabeth II.

The Royal Mint will show how to make King Charles III's new coin, with a demonstration from its chief engraver. Tours of Leighton House will be offered by Turquoise Mountain, an NGO co-founded by the King in 2006 to showcase the work of potters, jewelers and woodworkers from Afghanistan and the Levant.

Artefact

If you are a collector with a taste for modern art, then Artefact (May 9-13), a contemporary craft fair at Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, might be right for you. As well as providing opportunities to meet leading gallery hosts and discover works from established and emerging manufacturers, the curated event programme promises to help facilitate any new connections. This year's Craft Talk, for example, will be hosted by author and Material Matters podcast host Grant Gibson.

Design Museum London

To mark the upcoming Ai Weiwei exhibition Making Sense, which explores material culture and values, the Design Museum held a one-day terracotta workshop that explored the process of "creation and destruction" of the medium. The Create in Clay workshop aims to introduce the art of clay, from pinching POTS to whistles.

Scandinavian Star

Sandra Davolio's work combines the minimalist aesthetics of her native Copenhagen with the energy of her Italians. Her porcelain, inspired by the work of the ancient Etruscans, is often white and organically shaped: some resemble flowing soft coral, others oversize bleached lettuce. Because each piece is so detailed, consisting of thin leaves and serrated edges, it can take up to two months to complete.

The show at Gallery Modernity from May 9 to 31 will be a rare opportunity to see much of her work, much of which is in the homes of private collectors, in one place, from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris to the Smithsonian's Coopever Hewitt Museum in New York.

Iran's Fingerprints

Three young Iranian artists, Bibi Manavi, Navid Azimi Sajadi and Rana Khadem, are exhibiting "Imprints of Iran" at Cromwell Place, taking into account the country's ancient handicraft traditions, particularly embroidery, mirror mosaics, woodworking and ceramics, Into contemporary art. 

The exhibition promises to reflect today's artistic spirit, recreating and referencing, weaving cultural allusions tightly into each piece.

New Process Area

Park Royal, in north London, was not previously known for its crafts (apart from biscuit-making). But the industrial estate has attracted a growing number of creative businesses, such as Bill Amberg leather, Pip Hackett hats and bouquet delivery service Flowerbx, which now houses more than 250 studio Spaces for creants ranging from film producers to pottery makers.

During Crafts Week, Park Royal will host exhibitions and workshops. In the exhibition Park Royal Clay, potters and craftspeople will transform original London clay extracted from important local infrastructure projects into delicate objects and everyday objects.

Meanwhile, Future Crafts will showcase students' work with specialist manufacturers, such as Blast Studio 3D printing items using urban waste to combine traditional craft techniques with cutting-edge technology.

Buying handicrafts has never been more popular, with the market for handmade goods growing from £883m in 2006 to more than £3bn in 2019, with 33% of consumers (10.3 million people) buying online, according to the UK Crafts Council's 2020 report.

Clearly, this boom isn't just about our growing desire for unique items in a world of big brands and international chains. Or because we have become more acutely aware of the value of artefacts - what Aristotle called human "tools of tools," capable of turning imagined images into physical entities. We love handicrafts for their inherent magic, such as when an artisan takes a lathe and turns a piece of tree into a bowl, or a gold ingot into a ring, or molten sand into the air to make a vase. We are also paying more attention to what we buy and from whom. For environmental reasons, consciously buying less in a way that supports local manufacturers must be the trend of the future.

 All images credited to London Craft Week and Liangcang

SOA Arts – Pubilc Art Sculptures for Hotels, Corporates, and More

What does SOA Arts mean? Our company is named save on art(SOA ARTS), because we hope that everyone who likes art can own our works of art at a good price. We want to extend beautiful things to different corners as far as possible.

At the same time, save on art also call on people not to throw away the existing artworks easily. You can use these artworks in another scene, or do some DIY to make ; the artworks glow with new luster and energy.

At SOA Arts, we know how hard it can be to find the large public artwork you’re looking for. Fortunately, we have over 10 years of experience in making our clients’ interior design dreams a reality.

As a leading Chinese factory, we have everything we need to source, curate, commission, and produce exactly what you’re looking for. Get in touch and we’ll be happy to get the ball rolling.

Start your art project commissions today. 

Jorge Pardo

Jorge Pardo was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1963, attended the University of Illinois at Chicago and received his bachelor's degree from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

Pardo's artwork explores contemporary painting, design, sculpture and architecture. Pardo's work uses bright colors, eclectic patterns and natural and industrial materials. His works range from murals to home furnishings, collages to otherworldly creations.

He often transforms familiar objects into works of art with multiple meanings and purposes, for example, a set of lights displayed both as a source of illumination and as a stand-alone sculpture, or a sailboat displayed not only as a practical, seaworthy vessel, but also as a striking obelisk.

Pardo's work "plays" with scale -- he can make small objects as well as large Spaces -- and views the entire public space as a vast canvas. Pardo engages his audience with works that produce great visual pleasure, while constantly questioning and redefining the distinction between art and design.

His work has been laid out in numerous exhibitions, including the Augustine Museum in Toulouse (2014); Berlin (2014); Gagosian Gallery, New York (2010); Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (2010); K21 Art Collection, North Rhine-Westphalia, Dusseldorf (2009); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2008); And the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art (2007).

His work is also part of numerous public collections, including the Pompidou Centre in Paris; Tate Modern, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Bojmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam; Museum of Contemporary Art Miami; The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

LETS BE COLORFUL

Pardo was fascinated by the "collaboration" of colours, like a piece of music in which each note needed to be matched. "Harmony" is his artistic pursuit. This is reflected in the brilliant colors in his paintings -- gorgeous but not ostentatious.

Each color seems to exist independently, yet proclaims a unity of harmony, their edges are blurred, and the colors blend into the overall hue throughout the picture.

Rich picture, abstract, invisible, but it is a color of the concrete. This kind of representation pushes Pardo's painting toward "utility". The boundary between art and design is reset, and art is born only for ordinary life.

ART FOR AND OF LIFE

Usually we think of art as grand and ostentatious, and it's only shown in museums and galleries, or at least in certain places set aside for exhibitions. However, art can also be as diverse as our vibrant lives. This is the existence of art in life.

Our everyday life involves various interactions with objects, which inspires artists to integrate art into our ordinary lives. Every little detail of life can inspire artists to create extraordinary works that make our lives unique and gorgeous.

From this point on, artist Jorge Pardo began the "practicality" of his work, and gradually through the depiction of the subtle details of everyday life, we have a renewed sense of the space we live in.

The details of life can be found in objects related to lifestyle. When we look around, we see that our living space is full of signs of human civilization. From lamps to tables, from beds to sofas, they reflect milestones in the evolution of history, revealing the features and life styles created in different times.

ART ILLUMINATED 

So Jorge Pardo's design started with a lamp.

Every object conveys emotions that can only be felt by those close to it. In our daily lives, we not only connect with the people around us, but also constantly interact with the space in which we move. Those things in the room are static, but it does not prevent them from becoming an indispensable part of our life.

Each object is a special soul -- one that needs to be decorated. For these objects, every day is full of meaning and requires appropriate clothing to accentuate the days of celebration and remembrance.

Jorge Pardo is a master decorator who creates patterns full of bright colors and loud emotions. The beautifully decorated interior conveys a sense of ritual and lights up our inner spirit.

Jorge Parr's decorations evoke a sense of celebration and remind us of the beauty of ordinary life -- he gives ordinary still objects a gorgeous, unique personality and gives them spirit by "dressing" them in special patterns.

These patterns, though small and easily overlooked, make the Spaces they decorate lovely. When we step into these Spaces, we can feel a strong passion occupying the whole space.

ROOM REDEFINED

At the L'Arlatan, Pardo reconfigured the space with patterned tiles and fixtures.

To unify the space, Pardo designed a floor covering 6,000 square metres, made up of more than two million tiles in 11 patterns and 18 colours, handmade in a workshop in the small town of Ticul outside his Merida studio. "The pattern changes every two meters and never repeats itself," said the artist.

With revealing brick walls and pot-holed beams, Pardo adds further wild touches through elements designed and produced by him and his team in Mexico. The colors are used on the hollowed-out metal panels of railings, balustrades and bars (patterned after Mexican bandrin garlands) and more than 1,300 pieces of furniture made from tropical Mexican wood and woven rattan. Hundreds of walls, doors and cabinet facades are also hand-painted by artists. They depict people's faces and street scenes that have been distorted and adjusted, inspired by photographs taken during his many travels.

Pardo's mixed-media paintings, sculptures and furniture are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate.

Art is not only a kind of aesthetics but also a kind of attitude towards life.

all images credited to Jorge Pardo

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