A new collection of contemporary work crafted by local designers is launching at the Heath Robinson Museum shop this April.
The Maker’s Art range showcases handmade jewellery and candles reflecting the imagination and enchantment of Heath Robinson’s work. The makers, who mostly live locally, change every six months, creating a distinctive and continually varied decorative art marketplace at the Heath Robinson Museum and on their online shop.
Helen adds, “I am delighted that my work is going to the Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner as part of their Maker’s Art section. A voracious reader as a child, I used to love the Professor Branestawm books by Norman Hunter with the Heath Robinson illustrations.
I’d always thought his output was solely the drawings of crazy scientific contraptions, but on researching him, I found that he was also a social commentator. His How to series are now on my list of books to look out for.”
Helen Chatterton
We are delighted to have Helen Chatterton as one of our makers in the Heath Robinson Museum shop. She joins our sixteenth group for The Maker’s Art range. Helen Chatterton was born in Bury, Lancashire in 1961. The seeds of a lifetime’s obsession were sown when her Scottish mother taught her to knit and sew at the age of seven and growing up in a textile-based town and household fostered a passion for all aspects of fabrics and yarns.
In 2007 Helen started to make her unique tweed and velvet scarves, which proved to be very popular. These were followed in 2009/10 by her skinny scarves. Helen has gradually built up the business and now sells her work the length and breadth of the country in high quality shops and galleries.
Helen Chatterton Textiles’ range feature A5 notebooks, repurposing the left-over map fabric from her City on Cloth collection of silk scarves. This silk is printed in Macclesfield – a town in Cheshire known for its silk production.
They are filled with 70 pages of plain white 90 gsm paper, perfect for sketching, recipes or just making notes! They have a ribbon/bookmark in a colour which complements the silk cover. The front endpaper is printed with her logo.
The notebooks are sourced from a UK based company called Kapdaa (Hindi for cloth). The notebooks themselves are ethically handmade in India using traditional artisan techniques and materials.
Her lavender bags are all handmade by Helen in her studio at Summerhall in Edinburgh. They are filled with Yorkshire lavender, made from tweeds, velvets, tartans, silks and tana lawns then backed in silk Dupion.
The scarves are all handmade by Helen in her studio at Summerhall in Edinburgh. The Skinny Scarf range features iconic Harris Tweed and Liberty Tana Lawn cottons. The Tweed and velvet range feature coloured silk velvets backing the tweed fabric. Harris Tweed is an exceptionably hard-wearing, yet versatile fabric, the perfect accompaniment to the soft cotton and silk velvet. Each scarf features the world-renowned Royal Orb that is characteristic of Harris Tweed and exemplifies their quality.
Photo credit: Andrea Thomson Photography, Edinburgh.
Georgina Starnowski
Having been creative from an early age, two years ago I started making candles and, while it was initially a hobby, it has become almost literally a ‘burning passion’!
My inspiration came from spending time in nature with my cocker spaniel, Bella Mae. Walking with her every day, I visited so many different local areas and experienced so many beautifully evocative flower and plant fragrances through the seasons. This got me thinking about which fragrances could work well together and I started creating my own range of hand-poured candles, named after Bella Mae.
I create 100% natural soy wax candles which have eco-friendly wicks, use natural vegan fragrance oils and are all hand-poured by me at my home. I have test-burned them all myself and have spent over a year achieving the best combination of burn time and speed. I really enjoy blending unusual and classic fragrances. I make some as stylish or amusing moulded shapes, and a complete range in beautiful (and reusable) tins and jars.
I grew up in Pinner and have lived here all my life, I have worked with Richard Trusselle Jewellers in Pinner High Street for the last 13 years and am so delighted that Heath Robinson Museum has created such an excellent cultural and artistic hub in Pinner’s beautiful Memorial Park.
Having Bella Maes candles included in The Makers’ Art collection at the Museum shop is an absolute honour.
Photo credit: Michael Lenny
