Harewood House Biennial Preview
Craftworks will play host to a panel event on Thursday 16th May, chaired by Debika Ray, editor of Crafts magazine, with designer Kusheda Mensah, designer and maker Jan Hendzel and biennial co-curator Ligaya Salazar, exploring the core themes of the upcoming Harewood Biennial 2024: Create/Elevate.
Harewood Biennial 2024
Create/Elevate celebrates craft and elevates artisanal heritage connecting across generations and continents. The third edition of the Harewood Biennial, presented by Harewood House Trust in Yorkshire, explores the potency of craft through three interwoven themes, ‘New Narratives’ highlights works that interrogate Harewood’s collections and history. Local and global ecologies are foregrounded in ‘The Use of Land’, and the convivial effects of sharing food and knowledge are explored in ‘Nourish’.
Debika Ray
Debika Ray is the editor of Crafts Magazine, and head of editorial and communications at the UK Crafts Council. Debika is a writer, editor and consultant specialising in the arts, with almost 20 years of experience writing for titles as diverse as the Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Wallpaper, Kinfolk, Elle Decoration and Architectural Digest.
Kusheda Mensah
Kusheda Mensah is a British-born Ghanaian designer, based in London. At the root of her work, exploring and examining how one can create an idyllic, yet fun and functional living environment has always been paramount. Mensah’s latest project entitled ‘Mutual by Mensah’ was inspired by her reaction to the ever-growing rift social media continues to create between individuals and the way in which we bond. Mensah’s artistic remedy comes in the form of her interlocking modular pieces of furniture, representing the mutuality, connection and closeness shared between humans, as well as the human form itself.
Jan Hendzel
Jan Hendzel Studio designs and makes expressive timber furniture and objects from its workshop in London. Translating complex ideas into sculptural forms, the studio explores and refines the relationship between artistry and craft to make things the right way. The studio’s approach follows the sinuous, flowing path from concept to object, combining precision and experimentation to make objects the best they can be.
Ligaya Salazar
Ligaya Salazar is the co-curator of Create/Elevate. Her work focuses on contemporary interdisciplinary practice at the intersection of design, craft and art. Recent projects have focused on themes of place – through an ecological, diasporic and communal lense, shining a light on lesser known, purposefully ignored and marginalised narratives. Her approach is shaped by an interest in how people can be positioned at the heart of curatorial practice, enabling a human-centred take on storytelling.
