Makers Of East London
Our friends at Hoxton Mini Press have just published MAKERS OF EAST LONDON written by Kate Treggiden, a survey of craftsmen and women working in the East End – and today we publish a gallery of portraits of the makers by Charlotte Schreiber selected from the book
Steve McEwan makes handbells at Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Andreas Hudelmayer makes violins, violas & cellos in Clerkenwell
Daniel Harris weaves tweed in Clapton
Nicola Tassie makes ceramics in Hoxton
Rob Court makes neon signs in Walthamstow
Sebastian Tarek makes shoes in Hoxton
Katherine May works with textiles in Homerton
Walter Berwick makes spectacles at Algha Works in Fish Island
Richard Ince makes umbrellas at James Ince & Son in Cambridge Heath
Naomi Paul crochets lamps in Cambridge Heath
Barn the Spoon carves spoons in Bethnal Green & Stepney
Ray Rawlings makes pointe shoes at Freed of London in Well St
Kyla McCallum makes origami lamps in Bow
Casting sculpture at AB Fine Art Foundry in Poplar
Casting sculpture at AB Fine Art Foundry in Poplar
Gareth Neal makes furniture in Dalston
Graham Bignell, Beatrice Bless & Richard Ardagh at New North Press in Hoxton
James Kennedy makes bicycles in De Beauvoir
Simon Day makes furniture in Dalston
Photographs copyright © Charlotte Schreiber
Click here to buy a copy of MAKERS OF EAST LONDON direct from Hoxton Mini Press
You may like to read more about these makers
Holey moley, GA, being a maker of Things myself, this is one of my favorite posts ever! Just these little portraits inspire me. Maybe I could crochet an umbrella of leather scraps and spectacle wire??? 😉
How wonderful to see so many young and talented artisans living and working in the East End. Valerie
Beautiful photos, must get a copy!
Thanks.
Love these images, thanks so much for sharing Gentle A! Have been thinking for a while of doing a set of ilustrations of artists/makers at work- very inspiring!
Very very pleasing indeed.
Lovely photos and it’s great to see the evolution of arts and crafts in London’s east end.
God bless the Gentle Author.
Why, oh why, oh why, ohio, won’t/doesn’t anyone else take an interest and shine a little light [or a giant spotlight] on more maker stories like these.
Reminds me of a line by Primo Levi;
….the solemn, balanced weight of the hammer, the concentrated power of a blade…
It takes an outsider ; a visitor to stand steady and still and in thundering wonder at the grandeur and richness of your majestic city . London offers intoxicating rambles at every turn .
And willingly .
A glorious and unalterable truth : forevermore .
The photographs are evocative images of originals of the species under a gentle light which has never once sliced at the eye .
” Here is London , giddy London …” Morrissey
“This music crept by me upon the waters”
And along the Strand, up Queen Victoria Street.
O City City, I can sometimes hear
Beside a public bar in Lower Thames Street,
The pleasant whining of a mandoline
And a clatter and a chatter from within
Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold. ” T. S . Eliot
A city still in construction and built by the will of working men and women over
millenia .
and ” Really I must buy a pencil .”
Live long , Gentle Author
This post just makes me happy! Happy to see people doing what they love and creating. A good inspiration to start my day here across the pond.
I love these photographs! Such quiet joyfulness and peace in each.
The framing of the images is wonderful, the lighting superb.
My great-grandfather was a boot-maker in Bromley circa 1900. I wish I had such a photo of him making boots in the sunlight, instead of no image of him at all. These photos help me imagine him.
Thank you!
Congratulations to all these people for keeping the world a better place to live in by their skill and craftsmanship. All power to their elbow!!
Nice to see so many inventive people doing their best to remain self sufficient and independent of corporate business, although I dare say I doubt it will be long before politicians think of a way to put a stop all this free thinking individualism.
Such a positive post…heartening to see so many talented and happy looking makers.
The photographs are splendid.
cheers
Deby
How lovely to make a living from one’s own skill and creativity.