IC Local: Tools
“It can be crafted. Both limited and all-purpose instruments can enable us to take the imaginative leaps necessary to repair material reality or guide us toward what we sense is an unknown reality latent with possibility.”
—Richard Sennett (The Craftsman, 2008)
Industry City: May 12-16, 2022
Whether digital or manual, handheld or control-panel-operated, tools play a critical role in our professional lives. The effectiveness of a device can make or break our productivity and significantly influence our creative thinking. In contemporary demonstrations of craft, these apparatus are equally a means of expression as they are functional. The potential of tools expands concurrent to the pursuit of ever-more one-of-a-kind, handmade, and specialized objects. Designers, artists, and entrepreneurs often adapt mass-engineered implements to meet their specific needs and, in doing so, forge an implicit bond with these instruments. As seamless extensions of the self, tools can provide makers with the ability to innovate, elevating their respective trades to new technical and conceptual heights.
From fashion to straw marquetry and nearly everything in between, Industry City is home to a diverse creative community working side-by-side. Through individual experimentation and collective exchange, the complex’s craft-led tenants unlock the creative potential of their tools. An autodidactic woodworker that uses his chainsaw to sculpt rather than simply fell trees exacts the same intention and physical act as a florist that clips the stem of a flower so that it can retain more water. Both think of their tools in the same way: elements that are central to the content of their creative endeavors.
Mounted as part of the IC Design Festival 2022, the IC Locals: Tool exhibition surveys ten Industry City talents, highlighting the essential instruments each uses in its daily operations. Presented in thematic vignettes, the displayed tools provide an intimate, behind-the-scenes look into their individual practices.
Exhibition Design:
Exhibitors:
Christophe Pourny Studio, D-HAENE studio, Ian Love Design, Nazz Forge, Ophelia & Indigo, Roll & Hill, Sharon Radisch, Teressa Foglia, Turnbull and Son Studios, Yellow Bow Florals
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