Daniella Turner
WORDS FOR EXHIBITIONS
Teatro Albers, Salone del Mobile, 2023
Ambra Medda Office x Josef and Anni Albers Foundation
Graphics by Commission Studio
Metalhead. Tom Dixon. 2023
Themes&Variations Gallery
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Themes&Variations Gallery
Graphics by Commission Studio
Photography by Dan Fontanelli
Photography by Dan Fontanelli
STORIES
Cartoonist Zebedee Helm turns his satirical eye to homeware, 2023
We sat down with satirist, cartoonist, illustrator and polymath Zebedee Helm over Kedgeree to chat about our textile collaboration, his two takes on British culinary classics and the phenomenon of Imperial Leather soap.
“I like the unexpected surprise of a mess made beautiful and immortal” says the Financial Times’ resident illustrator Zebedee Helm, whose debut collection of table linens unconventionally gives pride of place to the moments of dining we often go out of our way to hide. Hand-embroidered on linen, Helm assembles a cacophony of food remnants and scattered utensils, capturing the delightful chaos of dinner preparation – the part he most enjoys. His own food philosophy combines a love for adapting the classics – including Kedgeree and Rhubarb Bakewell Tart – with a desire to amuse, experimenting with dishes such as Quails in Coffins and squirrel kebabs, the latter of which he sold from a tipi at Frampton Country Fair.
Outside of his personal triumphs in the kitchen and the odd experiment in carving – which saw him create a sculpture park on a roadside in Gloucestershire – Helm is most recognised for his irreverent cartoons and illustrations, featured in the FT, Private Eye and House & Garden, and for brands such as Fortnum & Mason, Hermès and The Row.
The turn to homeware isn’t too far a stretch for the illustrator, whose home in Lewes unsurprisingly also plays in his colourful world of satirical imagination. Technicolour tongue-in-groove panelling surrounds pink terrazzo countertops and trompe l’oeil painted floors depicting empty medicine containers. Perhaps most intriguing of all: the racks of witty spices and other condiments with labels such as ‘flies’ (for raisins), ‘All Spice girls’ and ‘Geri’ (for ginger). As he prepares the Kedgeree for our interview it takes him a minute to determine whether the jar labelled ‘Snuff’ is curry powder or cinnamon – the momentary inconvenience, he tells me, is definitely worth the relentless amusement.
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Outside of his personal triumphs in the kitchen and the odd experiment in carving – which saw him create a sculpture park on a roadside in Gloucestershire – Helm is most recognised for his irreverent cartoons and illustrations, featured in the FT, Private Eye and House & Garden, and for brands such as Fortnum & Mason, Hermès and The Row.
The turn to homeware isn’t too far a stretch for the illustrator, whose home in Lewes unsurprisingly also plays in his colourful world of satirical imagination. Technicolour tongue-in-groove panelling surrounds pink terrazzo countertops and trompe l’oeil painted floors depicting empty medicine containers. Perhaps most intriguing of all: the racks of witty spices and other condiments with labels such as ‘flies’ (for raisins), ‘All Spice girls’ and ‘Geri’ (for ginger). As he prepares the Kedgeree for our interview it takes him a minute to determine whether the jar labelled ‘Snuff’ is curry powder or cinnamon – the momentary inconvenience, he tells me, is definitely worth the relentless amusement.
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In Conversation: Francesca Anfossi, 2023
Interview series following individuals and spaces bucking convention.
Interdisciplinary artist, educator and curator Francesca Anfossi doesn’t have a traditional studio, instead, she has Camden community landmark, Rochester Square. In 2016, along with her partner Eric Wragge, Francesca began restoring the former nursery, installing a ceramic studio, garden and kitchen built on the creative cycle: from the earth (clay) to plants (garden) to plates (food). As well as being her own personal workshop, over the last seven years Rochester Square has become a bedrock for Camden locals and London-wide ceramic artists.
After training in fine-art, Francesca’s attention turned to the social aspect of craft, with clay emerging as her primary medium. She says: “I am inspired by its very nature – a versatile, inclusive and non-hierarchical material.” These principles have become the life-force of her art practice and work at Rochester Square, where she invites school children to participate in ceramics workshops and learn in the studio’s garden; established artists such as Jonathan Baldock, Caroline Achaintre and Anne Ryan to prepare new bodies of work for upcoming exhibitions; and a rolling roster of Studio Members to produce their work, host workshops and collaborate on projects, which includes Rochester’s own sculpture garden.
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After training in fine-art, Francesca’s attention turned to the social aspect of craft, with clay emerging as her primary medium. She says: “I am inspired by its very nature – a versatile, inclusive and non-hierarchical material.” These principles have become the life-force of her art practice and work at Rochester Square, where she invites school children to participate in ceramics workshops and learn in the studio’s garden; established artists such as Jonathan Baldock, Caroline Achaintre and Anne Ryan to prepare new bodies of work for upcoming exhibitions; and a rolling roster of Studio Members to produce their work, host workshops and collaborate on projects, which includes Rochester’s own sculpture garden.
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In Conversation: Sergio Casoli, 2023
This week we have been thinking about individuals and spaces that break from convention. There are few people that embody this renegade spirit as much as gallerist and curator Sergio Casoli, who in 2022 relaunched his renowned gallery Studio Casoli in Filicudi’s fishing village Pecorini a Mare. It is a spectacle of sorts, finding itself both at odds and in complete harmony with its surroundings – a tiny volcanic island known for its turbulent elements, untamed nature and a back to basics lifestyle.
Once a week two food vans arrive to Filicudi from Sicily, one for meat and one for vegetables. Their arrival sparks a frenzy across the island as residents descend on the vehicles before stock runs out. For the smallest and most wild of the Aeolian islands, daily life is about the essentials. There is a single pharmacy, no natural water source or ATM.
It is this distinct limited offering that makes Studio Casoli a space of bewildering curiosity. Nestled amongst Filicudi’s sparse terrain and jellyfish-infested rocky beaches, the gallery plays host to a canon of fine art and design heavyweights– from Peter Doig to Lucio Fontana to Barber Osgerby. The latter is the gallery’s current exhibition. ‘From Island to Island’ brings together pieces from Barber Osgerby’s archive alongside a new tapestry produced in collaboration with master-weaver Laura de Cesare. Spotlighting the breadth of construction techniques present across their extensive catalogue, this exhibition examines the role of the handmade within industrial design.
It is a big offering for a small audience of approximately two hundred islanders, a significant shift for Studio Casoli that since the 1980s has been welcoming mass crowds throughout its tenures in Milan and Rome.
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It is this distinct limited offering that makes Studio Casoli a space of bewildering curiosity. Nestled amongst Filicudi’s sparse terrain and jellyfish-infested rocky beaches, the gallery plays host to a canon of fine art and design heavyweights– from Peter Doig to Lucio Fontana to Barber Osgerby. The latter is the gallery’s current exhibition. ‘From Island to Island’ brings together pieces from Barber Osgerby’s archive alongside a new tapestry produced in collaboration with master-weaver Laura de Cesare. Spotlighting the breadth of construction techniques present across their extensive catalogue, this exhibition examines the role of the handmade within industrial design.
It is a big offering for a small audience of approximately two hundred islanders, a significant shift for Studio Casoli that since the 1980s has been welcoming mass crowds throughout its tenures in Milan and Rome.
Read more
GIOIE DELLA TAVOLA! "The Joys of the Table", 2023
Beginning with the lavish banquets of Ancient Rome, Italians have been honing the art of gioie della tavola, or “the joys of the table”, for over 2000 years. We spoke with two women defining this tradition – caterer and event planner Serena Barbieri and wellness retreat host Larissa Giers – both of whom have found inspiration in their Italian upbringings for careers elevating the experience of dining.Over the course of her twenty year career, Serena Barbieri has become the go-to caterer and event planner for Italy’s most coveted dinners and parties, collaborating with brands including Hermès, Christian Dior, Ralph Lauren, Helen Nonini and Piaget. Whether infusing Hermès’ signature orange into pasta dough or adorning risotto with an edible façade depicting designer Nathalie Du Pasquier’s mural for Assab One in Milan, Serena’s combination of flavour, colour, texture and form is a masterclass in culinary storytelling.
Born and raised in Milan, Serena’s Italian heritage was her education in where food, experience and aesthetics meet. “What I assimilated from my parents was the importance of the starting ingredient, the one from which the entire menu will be designed and the common thread between all the other components.” Whilst her mother instilled the importance of seasonality and preserving the natural flavours of raw ingredients, for her father, it was about a refined table. This, Serena calls the “appetiser” itself, recalling how dinners were never without a perfectly ironed tablecloth, freshly cut flowers from the garden and crockery specifically chosen for the enhancement of the dish.
Today, Serena’s events take these familial traditions to new heights. “Cooking is pure art” she says, "it is robust in transporting people to a thousand places.” To celebrate AMO’s collaboration with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation during Salone 2023, guests dined on black and white sesame wafers, veal rolls, Roman artichoke with corn crisps and Risotto alla Milanese. She notes: “It takes surgical organisation and a precise vision of the whole to be able to give a risotto the power to make you understand why that colour, that tablecloth, that room and those flowers were chosen that evening.”
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Born and raised in Milan, Serena’s Italian heritage was her education in where food, experience and aesthetics meet. “What I assimilated from my parents was the importance of the starting ingredient, the one from which the entire menu will be designed and the common thread between all the other components.” Whilst her mother instilled the importance of seasonality and preserving the natural flavours of raw ingredients, for her father, it was about a refined table. This, Serena calls the “appetiser” itself, recalling how dinners were never without a perfectly ironed tablecloth, freshly cut flowers from the garden and crockery specifically chosen for the enhancement of the dish.
Today, Serena’s events take these familial traditions to new heights. “Cooking is pure art” she says, "it is robust in transporting people to a thousand places.” To celebrate AMO’s collaboration with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation during Salone 2023, guests dined on black and white sesame wafers, veal rolls, Roman artichoke with corn crisps and Risotto alla Milanese. She notes: “It takes surgical organisation and a precise vision of the whole to be able to give a risotto the power to make you understand why that colour, that tablecloth, that room and those flowers were chosen that evening.”
Read more
