Across the project’s development, Bleat founder Tristin Norwell became a familiar face in the Retrouvius shop and has incorporated salvaged, reclaimed, vintage and sustainable materials throughout the studio’s multifunctional editing rooms. Earlier this month he gave us the grand tour.
News & Views
Autumn 2020
Retrouvius were invited by The New Craftsmen to collaborate on WAYS OF SEEING — bringing together maker and interior designer to celebrate new collections from The New Craftsmen and the different ways to view and value craft. The collaboration allowed us to immerse our thoughts on materiality and what makes something appropriate to a place.
Our scheme was inspired by a Hebridean Highland house. We chose the kitchen - the hearth and heart of any home - on which to focus. A rare Georgian building, it confidently looks out over the southernmost peninsular on the Isle of Harris. It is welcoming and shelters visitors from the ever changing weather.
We were drawn towards pieces from TNC that have an innate sense of weave and pattern, and abstractly reflect Harris’ association with tweed.
Gareth Neal and Annemarie O’Sullivan’s work felt immediately right - although inspired by the Orkney Isles their pieces hark to a vernacular tradition of using what is there or what there is. Familiarity makes people feel relaxed but at Retrouvius we often like to take the familiar and use it where it may not be expected.
Harris, synonymous with its famous tweed, drew us to pieces that have an innate sense of weave and pattern. Froyle tiles, depending on how they are laid, offer all sorts of rhythms and patterns. Aimee Betts cabinet with Gareth Neal explores a woven and tied nature that feels contemporary and triggers thoughts of repairs to lobster pots and fishing nets.
Illustration by Caroline Aitken
