Craft in the Bay, Makers Guild Wales, 2013

Utility

The making of tools is regarded as one of the key milestones in human evolution. The development of more complex tools and utensils paved the way for new social behaviours, dietary change, greater dexterity and indeed the making of other objects.  Tools are fundamental to being human.

Craftspeople have a particularly profound relationship with tools and utensils for obvious reasons. The tools of the trade are treasured objects in their own right as they mould to the makers hand revealing their years of servitude and the unique demands they are faced with.  A weaver would intimately know the intricacies and differences of all their weaving shuttles, scissors and hooks, whilst the distinctive dents and worn patina of a jewellers’ hammer, pincers, pliers and files might hint at what they’ve been used to make.

This exhibition presents some of the UKs finest makers’ curiosity and reverence for tools and utensils. Whilst everything can be used for something, these aren’t functional objects in the traditional sense: they are aesthetic celebrations of the tools of making. They are designed to raise a smile, evoke a sense of familiarity and encourage a fresh look at a maker’s transformation of basic materials into something new, regardless of ‘what it is for’.

Laura Thomas, 2013