MASQUERADE

Now we are on the countdown to the first Retro Rooms Show on 6th March it is time for me to start blogging about our exhibitors in the lead up to the event. As Retro Rooms is the first vintage fair exclusively for vintage furniture and homewares we have quite a few new exhibitors who will be coming along on the day.

One of our first-timers is the collective ReFound - a group of creative individuals, a collection of reclaimed furniture and an inspired 'agent of change', Jill O’Neill. Using unwanted and past-its-prime furniture as the canvas, the ReFound artists transform reclaimed pieces into unique and functional artworks.

The list of ReFound artists is extensive and the ReFounds that they have produced even more so, but I have picked out a couple of my favourite pieces for the blog and sheerly by coincidence the artists are friends of mine.

ReFound piece #034 is by Jude Fenton. Initially she picked the boxes because of their homemade charm and practicality. Says Jude 'I like the mix of functional and non-functional, everyone can do with extra storage so I wanted to create a piece that would be able to house a few loved treasures but also that would be able to stand as a piece of art in its own right. The sketches, text and collages were mostly inspired by textile designs from the 1950’s in particular the work of one of my favourite designers Lucienne Day. I have tried to create a scrapbook effect as if each section has a story to tell. I left the three pieces separate so that they can be arranged in a variety of poses'.

ReFound #044 the 'Masquerade Chair' is by Rachel Hutchinson. Rachel’s work is influenced by the combination of old and new and representing the perpetual motion of generations. Using layered textures with vintage fabrics, papers, paints and hand-embroidered stitching in contemporary compositions to suggest an undercurrent of contained history, narrative and identity. Fascinated by the association between people and objects, concealment and absorption; things left behind, narrative contained, resonance and transference of ownership, the'Masquerade Chair' is a small journey into how fabrics can contain narrative and evoke memory.

Incidentally one of Rachel's ReFound chairs can be seen in the window of Best Vintage on Ann Street Belfast at the moment.

You can visit the ReFound website at http://www.refoundonline.com/ or find them at The Retro Rooms Show on Sunday 6th March.