Tandemize 2.0

About

To celebrate London Craft week (3-7 May) The Cass Bank Gallery hosts a new exhibition, led by MA Course Leader Mah Rana entitled What was the last thing that you made? And how did it make you feel?; the show explores the potential in cross-cultural collaborations by looking at the effects of migration on architecture, design, craft and fashion.

Tandemize 2.0 began in January 2016 when a group of Sri Lankan residents came to London for a one week to study at The Cass. Later that year, In March 2016, five successful graduates from The university were awarded Tandemize Travel fellowships by the British Council, and travelled to Sri Lanka for a one week residency hosted by the University of Moratuwa. The Tandemize group spent two days learning tradition Beeralu techniques from a mother and daughter from the village Magalle, Sri Lanka, recognised for its lace-making tradition; such heritage is slowly being lost for various reasons, including the ongoing economic impact of the tsunami in 2005 and it is now a dying craft.

The Tandemize 2.0 group took their experiences from learning this traditional craft, and translated it into a public participation art event inspired by lace-making, the project is anchored around the question: What was the last thing that you made, and how did it make you feel? and will be re-enacted at the Cass gallery as part of the exhibition.

Fairtrade organic tea company, Greenfield bio plantations, will be providing tea for a temporary café named Hathra Pota after the first technique learnt when practicing Beeralu. They will be serving teas from Sri Lanka in the main gallery space, offering a relaxed environment for visitors to the exhibition, encouraging conversations around crafting and to learn more about the project from the Tandemize 2.0 participants on 4 May.

The London Craft Week exhibition will also feature work from 'Not Tablewhere', an experimental ceramics project carried out by the HARVEST studio Co led by Peter Marigold at The Cass in collaboration with ceramics company 1882 Ltd. Participants in the project investigated the use of clay manipulating processes, exploring the properties and even blowing up clay. A series of products have resulted from these experimental techniques and will be on display to form the final section of the exhibition at The Cass Bank Gallery.

To complete the offer creative walking tour group, Fox and Squirrel, have partnered with Whitechapel Gallery and Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design to offer their most recently developed walking route ‘Huguenot to Hipster’ on 4 May. These tours offer the chance to gain a unique insight into London’s fashion history in the Aldgate area, including a stop at a Bangladeshi leather factory culminating in a viewing of Tandemize at the Cass Bank gallery.