The “Blickwechsel II” exhibit at Craftkontor in Bonn-Bad Godesberg invites visitors to broaden their viewpoints and look ahead without losing sight of tradition. The gallery celebrates its 10thbirthday with a presentation of unique works by Karin Bablok (porcelain), Sundari Arlt (wood) and Frieda Dörfer (jewelry).
Annegret Portsteffen in her gallery Craftkontor in Bonn/Bad-Godesberg
“When I founded Craftkontor in 2008, I wanted to bring underrepresented crafts into the public eye,” Annegret Portsteffen says. Rather than creating a gallery in an ivory tower, this art historian enlivened the city of Bad Godesberg with a kind of concept store, a venue for innovative artifacts that regularly presents exhibits dedicated to diverse themes. Aficionados hunting for museum-quality collector’s items will find their prey, as will people searching for unusual gift items. Fifty exhibits later, this gallery owner can look back upon a spectrum of 300 designers active in every conceivable genre of craftsmanship. Whether the objects are ceramic, wood, paper, plastic, stone, jewelry or textile, her passion is to seek and to find special creations.
Karin Bablok, vases, 2018. Porcelain, ca. H 21 cm, D 9 cm each. Photo M. Wurzbach
At this year’s tenth anniversary show, Annegret Portsteffen again presents unconventional items in her modern “cabinet of curiosities,” as she sometimes calls her store and gallery. Prizewinning porcelain vessels by Karin Bablok from Hamburg reveal this ceramist’s expressive brushstrokes, as well as her penchant for geometric lines and surfaces that connect the exterior and the interior. The Berliner sculptress Sundari Arlt alternately wields a power saw and a chisel to create her imaginative and colorful interpretations of human diversity and changeability. Jewelry designer Frieda Dörfer from Pforzheim weds tradition and innovation in her jewelry bodies: she utilizes the art of guilloche, a historical goldsmith’s technique, which appears here in refreshingly modern style.
Sundari Arlt, Bookhead, white. Wood, partly painted. Photo Sundari Arlt
Frieda Dörfer, chain, silver, needle etched and black rhodium plated. Photo Katrin Lautenbach
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CRAFTkontor
Galerie für Kunsthandwerk und Design
Annegret Portsteffen
Koblenzer Straße 35, Eingang Bürgerstraße
53173 Bonn, Bad Godesberg
Germany - Tuesday–Friday 11 am–6.30 pm
Saturday 10 am–3 pm - Link