www.keithbrymerjones.com

Home Fragrance Collection

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:42:33 +0000

Well it’s the start of another year and I’ve just exhibited at the first trade fair of the year. This time it felt different .This time it felt as if people were getting it. Getting what I and I have to say my business partner are trying to do, and that is create the KBJ range into a very comprehensive domestic cookware/life style brand.

The introduction of the Home fragrance range has certainly helped to get across the message and has proved very successful even on its first foray out in the world, and I actually feel quite proud of the finished result. This has been greatly helped by my perfume consultant Juliette Goggin who has guided me and created fragrances that are truly worth using, and fall perfectly within the KBJ world. For me it really is the usability of what has been created. Maybe because of my training I have a very strong sense of whatever is created within the KBJ range has to be usable, honest to its true function.

I know the above sounds all a bit self congratulatory, but what I’m really trying to explain is that I could not do what I do unless it came from the heart. Whatever one has or is creating whether it be an entire business or a work of art, it has to come from an honest place, and cor blimey the KBJ range has certainly come a long way on that road to a stage where I feel it now stands on its own merit.

Both Dom (my business partner) and I are very aware of growing something naturally ,and moving forward on the success of what has been created both in terms of business strategy (Dom’s area),and the product and look of the KBJ and Make as a whole (my area). There is something very satisfying in life about going with a gut feeling and after some hard work (or a lot as the case maybe) being proved right. Again I’m sounding like a self-satisfied, self-congratulatory ego, and I certainly don’t mean to. One of the things that keeps someone like me going is that I’m never truly satisfied with my work. There is always something that can and will be done better. In fact I sometimes feel quite anxious at the thought of being satisfied. For me it’s never a good thing to be totally satisfied with what you create. Maybe I’m just a nutter who has low self-esteem issues, but it works for me so long may it continue.

Putamus parum claram anteposuerit

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:41:23 +0000

Usus legentis in iis qui facit eorum claritatem Investigationes demonstraverunt lectores? Tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option, congue nihil imperdiet doming id. Etiam processus dynamicus qui sequitur mutationem, consuetudium lectorum mirum est. Putamus parum claram anteposuerit litterarum formas humanitatis per seacula quarta decima et quinta decima eodem.

Welsh Word Range

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:43:55 +0000

Keith Brymer Jones has also created a Welsh Word range, celebrating the resurgence of the language and his own Welsh heritage. The range bucket mugs, latte mugs, egg cups, baby mugs, a jug and a bowl. The range is to be expanded in the new year. Click here to see the full range.

Martin Wiscombe Biscuit Range

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:20:10 +0000

Keith Brymer Jones collaborated with artist Martin Wiscombe for the nostalgic biscuit range, available at www.makeinternational.com . It features 16 favourite biscuits and cakes such as bourbon, battenburg, jaffa cakes, party rings and jammy dodgers. To read more about Keith's work as Head of Design for Make International, click here.

Neisha Crosland Collaboration

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:09:18 +0000

Keith Brymer Jones collaborated with Neisha Crosland for this Fine China range, that includes a teapot, espresso sets, coffee cups, a cake plate, jug and sugar bowl. Each piece features one of Neisha Croslands beautiful patterns in one of her 4 signature colourways. The Neisha Crosland Range is available at www.makeinternational.com. To read more about Keith's work as Head of Design for Make International, click here.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

After visiting family up north, I took a trip to the much loved Yorkshire sculpture park where we encountered an exhibition by Jaume Plensa from Barcelona. The weather was very foggy at the time, which only added to the atmospheric pleasure and the overall experience of seeing his sculptures- they were indeed quite inspiring.

The exhibition consisted of a number of open spaces and rooms in which different pieces from across his career were placed. For my part, I took particular interest as Jaume Plensa often combines words with the sculpture to evoke a certain feeling or response from his audience.

One space consisted of a ring of gongs, each imprinted with a phrase from the Bible. You were able to play the gongs with specially placed beaters that were suspended from the ceiling. As you struck the gongs, they emitted an incredible tone. Once all gongs had been struck and you stood in the centre of the ring, you got an amazing resonating experience, as if each of the phrases on the gongs were merging into one another.

This work particularly spoke to me as you got such an overwhelming sense of the dedication and physical input by the artist. It conjured up the image of someone being very practical in executing their art, which I can definitely relate to.

Then it was off upstairs for chips and gravy. Fantastic!

Fish Slab Gallery, Whitstable

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:30:49 +0100

In my experience through years of developing new products for different ranges, I have come to what seems maybe an obvious conclusion that inspiration and creative intent can come from many different directions. I usually find that creative inspiration stems from very strong visual ideas. This initial experience can then be taken and used on various levels, often ending up completely different from the original idea.

I recently went to my friend, Paul Elliot's private view in Whitstable and as always was pleasently inspired by his leftfield approach to observing human behaviour. This for me, like many others was refreshing, albeit slightly uncomfortable. Above all though, it was certainly different.

As in the workshop, I am always striving to to do things slightly differently in regards to how I work, how I view and how I execute a certain project. This for me is the most exciting part of the process.

Photography Competition!

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:36:40 +0100

Keith Brymer Jones with MAKE International are excited to be launching a Photography Competition this autumn, with some really great prizes to be won! The prizes are....

First prize of £100 store credit
Two runner-up prizes of £50 store credit

All you need to do is send us a photo of the most obscure or unusual place in which one of your Keith Brymer Jones' mugs, bowls, cups, jugs or anything else has been used!

It could be in front of a landmark, at the beach or just somewhere unexpected in your home or garden…make it unique, ironic, funny, clever or interesting… include people, a caption, your pet… think outside that box!

The competition will run from 1st September – 31st December 2011 and you can enter as many times as you like, so you needn't worry about picking your favourite to photograph, just do one of each!

Send all of your photos to us and we will put the best ones up on our gallery and they will also be featured on the Make International Wall of Fame!

Your fabulous photographs will all be judged by independant arty types (yet to be announced) over the Christmas period until the closing date..... Good Luck!!

Winners will be announced in the first week of January 2012, and you then have 12 months in which to redeem your prize..... happy snapping!

Back on the wheel

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:28:58 +0100

Well who would have thought it... I'm now sitting at the wheel after a gap of 6 weeks, which would have been unheard of only a few years ago. I'm making prototypes to add to the word range for the New Year to send over to my studio in one of the factories that we use in China. A far cry from making hundreds of pieces a day on the wheel!

This for me is as equally fulfilling as hand making the work myself, but has required a very different approach. Visiting and working in the factories in China is quite inspirational. The minute I walk in, I get a true sense of years of experience in producing ceramic, which to me is very exciting and although there is a language barrier, we tend to be able to communicate through the work itself, and the common goal we have in achieving new shapes and new ranges.

This hands-on and very practical approach gives me a far better understanding of not only how their work is created, but also the cultural attitudes towards the work and in turn, the way they live. It is quite simply fascinating.

The photograph above shows one of the men at the factory who is in charge of the moulds and mould making, taken on one of our regular factory trips.

Anyway, back to the wheel... speak soon.

Keith Brymer Jones launches new e-commerce website, the place for contemporary homeware

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:33:31 +0100

Welcome to the new Keith Brymer Jones website – here you will find news and updates from the Studio at the Old Bakery in Whitstable, with information about new ranges, which trade shows the range is showcased at, factory visits and also a steady flow of snippets that interest Keith and hopefully those who like his work too. Watch this space for regular posts from The Old Bakery!

Browse our online shop now for our range of modern contemporary homeware.