Autumn 2023

When we get to the Autumn months we often hear folk talk about a rebirth, renewal or return after the lazy days of summer. Getting back to school and back to work is certainly one aspect of this, but there is also a feeling that culture starts up again: new art exhibitions, theatre productions, literary releases. New projects are begun and plans that have been long thought about can finally be realised.

Speaking of which, our website rehang is now live with many new products in the online store. Such as…

George Foster’s ceramic practice seems to correspond to these ideas of creation and renewal. Originally a chef, George began making his beautiful hand-thrown tableware as a way of rethinking his creative life. Having been a fixture of Whitstable’s food scene for a number of years—at David Brown’s Deli and the Sportsman—he decided to devote more time to the potter’s wheel. His plates reflect his knowledge and experience of food and baking in their ergonomic, elegant and utilitarian design.

At Frank we’re focussing on his new collection of small and sharing plates, currently available in three colourways: quince, olive and oat, with more on the way.

Gary Thorne, whose rope trivets we see above, is another maker who has experienced something of a self-renewal. After training and working as a Theatre Designer, he established and taught on the Postgraduate Theatre Design Course at RADA. Gary now concentrates on working in his studio and maintaining a practice of drawing, painting and making, a change of focus that Gary likens to a rewiring.

Gary uses Manilla hemp rope from Chatham Dockyard in Kent. The three designs are based on a sailor’s ‘Thumper’, the term for a weave of rope that would be used to protect the cabin wall from the door slamming against it in a gust of wind. We have Gary’s trivets in two sizes here and a larger circular woven mat available in store.

Thanks to Andrew Hayes-Watkins for the photographs.