Handcrafted Crystal by J.Hill's Standard

When Waterford native Anike Tyrrell founded J.HILL's Standard she had a view in mind to revive an industry that she had personally seen diminish over two decades. For many years, Waterford, Ireland, was synonymous with Waterford Crystal—the masterfully made glassware that stood as a symbol of handcrafted prestige. While Waterford the brand may have reached a fever pitch many years ago, Tyrrell did not want the legacy to cease, or the skill sets. J.HILL's Standard was born—and named after a master crystal worker for Waterford during the 18th century. We saw the two collections debut at this year's London Design Festival, but now they are available for purchase at NYC's Atelier Courbet. We spoke with Tyrrell for the fuller picture on saving a respected craft.

"I have worked for some time in enterprise and rural development in the Waterford region, and was interested in preserving the skill of glass-making in the area," Tyrrell shares with CH on the impetus of the company. "At one time over 3,000 craftworkers were employed in the region making glass, and this has dwindled to small numbers. As much of the industry globally has moved toward machine making (with some notable exceptions like Lobmeyr), it struck me that there was potential to revive mouth-blown and hand-cut glass for a new user who would appreciate the time and skill involved in making glass."

It is the glass-making process that wowed Tyrrell: "Blowing is hot and demands great speed to conquer both gravity and fragility to set a thing of beauty in a solid state. It struck me too that there was much to do in the area of re-imagining the embellishment of glass in ways that would push the medium. Making glass is fascinating."

There was a moment where Tyrrell realized that not only could she take matters into her own hands, but that she needed to do so. "It struck me in conversation with an engineer who had spent a lifetime in the industry that he and many others had a genuine feeling of 'Why would you make glass by hand when you can make it so much more perfect by machine?' It was an interesting view which challenges everything about what constitutes 'perfection'—the Japanese idea of Wabi Sabi or perfection in imperfection—and also, what constitutes the value in the end piece in terms of its beauty and utility, and the skill which goes to making it."

凯蒂猫(Hello Kitty)不是猫的消息震惊了世界

上星期，《洛杉矶时报》(The Los Angeles)发布了这条世纪新闻。至少从互联网上激起的冲击波来看，堪称世纪新闻。

从TMZ网站到《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)，各种媒体竞相报道这件事，名人们纷纷发表推特表示难以置信，孩子们对这个消息的各种反应更是疯狂转发。

凯蒂猫(Hello Kitty)茫然的脸蛋无所不在，全世界都以为它是一只猫，但《洛杉矶时报》却宣布她不是猫，而是一个名叫凯蒂·怀特(Kitty White)的小女孩。

同样惊人的是，凯蒂还有一整套的身世：她是英国人，和爸爸妈妈住在伦敦，有双胞胎姊妹，永远都在上三年级。

夏威夷大学人类学家克里斯汀·R·矢野(Christine R. Yano)正在为全美日裔国立博物馆的凯蒂猫艺术回顾展撰写文字说明，《洛杉矶时报》引述了她的考证。经过与凯蒂猫的母公司三丽鸥公司做事实核查，她“非常确定”地纠正了凯蒂猫的身份。

“这是三丽鸥为我给展览写的草稿做的纠正。凯蒂猫不是猫。她是个卡通形象，是个小女孩，是个好朋友，但她不是猫。她从来没被画成用四条腿走路，”矢野在接受《洛杉矶时报》采访时说。“她走路和坐着的时候都是一个两条腿的生物。不过她有自己的宠物猫，名叫‘俏咪’(Charmmy Kitty)。”

《洛杉矶时报》该报道的作者卡洛琳娜·A·米兰达(Carolina A. Miranda)补充：“我和凯蒂猫的各种产品一起长大，我得说，这太震惊了。”

整个世界和她一样震惊。

中国年轻艺术藏家迥异于父辈

今年10月，北京收藏家林瀚将开放他的第一个美术馆——798艺术区中心一个3000平方米的空间。它将命名为M.Woods，M代表林瀚母亲的名字的第一个字“曼”，Woods是“林”这个姓的英文翻译。到今年10月才满27岁的林瀚，刚做一年的收藏。不过，他已经拥有200多件藏品，包括国际艺术明星的作品，比如特蕾西·埃明(Tracy Emin)、卡德·阿蒂亚(Kader Attia)和小谷元彦，以及中国最赚钱的艺术家的作品，比如曾梵志和陈飞。

M.Woods美术馆的第一场展览名为“微暗的火：打开收藏的国界”，将展出该馆的永久藏品，以及几位中国年轻收藏家友情出借的以下艺术家的重要作品：吕克·图伊曼斯(Luc Tuymans)、傅丹(Danh Vo)、托马斯·休斯哥(Thomas Houseago)和奈良美智。

到今年10月才满27岁的林瀚，刚做一年的收藏。不过，他已经拥有200多件藏品。

“我刚起步时，很多艺术家的作品都想买，但是画廊老板们不知道我是谁，都说没东西可卖，”林瀚说。他父母是投资家，他在新加坡上中学，在英国诺桑比亚大学获得动画设计学位。林瀚从父母那获得第一桶金，然后通过自己的公司让财富增值。现在他经营着一家成功的公关公司，客户包括宝马、迷你库珀和豪雅表等奢侈品牌。“我当时断定，我得在拍卖会上购买一位著名艺术家的作品，这样人们才会知道我是谁，”他说。2013年11月，他在香港的一次拍卖会上以500万美元买下曾梵志的一幅画。曾梵志是在世的中国当代艺术家中作品最昂贵的一位。这个策略奏效了。很快，伦敦的白立方、上海的香格纳和东京的浴室等画廊开始热情款待他。这位年轻收藏家说，“这就像打仗场战争。”他解释道，“战争开始前，你要奏军乐鼓舞人心以壮声势。我弄出声势来，让人们知道有我这号人。”

林瀚是中国大陆的新一代收藏家，他们似乎都决心让自己出名。他们特别年轻，通常是富二代，他们与父母的不同之处在于对他们来说艺术收藏不只是一个投资策略。他们中的很多人在西方受过教育，非常熟悉国际艺术潮流，为了形成重要收藏，他们愿意做功课，勤在外面跑。他们发现中国的画廊和拍卖行达到西方职业水平的不多，纽约和伦敦的艺术商对他们艺术家的事业进行长期投资，投机者的拙劣之作也可能会出现，但一般会遭到鄙视。中国这些年轻的收藏家们对他们投资的艺术作品非常挑剔，因此鼓励中国的艺术体系通过美术馆展览和国际舞台为他们收藏的艺术家提供更多服务和支持。他们更青睐有国际知名度的艺术家，而不只是在国内有名气的艺术家。

“中国的这一代年轻收藏家更了解世界上在发生什么，思想更开放，”纽约和北京的前波画廊(Chambers Fine Art)老板茅为清说，“他们不只关注中国艺术家；他们看待艺术的角度更全球化。”他补充道。

林瀚指出，汉语“收藏”的字面意思是“收”和“藏”，而他更喜欢“展示和讲述”，所以他开设M.Woods来展示他购买的艺术品。在开幕展览中，除了他自己的珍藏，他还借来了其他年轻收藏家的藏品，包括31岁的陆寻和27岁的上海收藏家周大为。陆寻和父亲、地产开发商陆军联合创立了南京的四方当代美术馆；周大为有很多头衔，他赞助了两个画廊以及即将于11月12日至16日举办的Art021艺术博览会——该博览会创立于2013年，比它的竞争者博那罗上海国际当代艺术展(ShContemporary)对画廊的选择更为讲究。

上海收藏家周大为有很多头衔，他赞助了两个画廊以及即将于11月12日至16日举办的Art021艺术博览会。

香港和北京艺门画廊的马芝安(Meg Maggio)说，“我遇到的大多数年轻收藏家都在不只一个大洲受过教育，他们习惯于经常出国出差，走进世界上任何一个重要艺术中心都不会感到畏惧。”她指出，很多这样的客户正在中国建美术物馆。“他们很有公民意识，把自己的知识带回国，让国内艺术界受益，”她说。

陆氏家族的四方当代美术馆就是个很好的例子。“我们想给这里带来国际气质，”2013年四方当代美术馆开幕时陆寻在采访中说。陆寻曾在剑桥大学学习纳米技术，2007年退学运营该项目。他父亲是四方文化集团的董事长，该集团投资于地产、酒店、金融和文化项目。这个7000平方米的美术馆由美国建筑师史蒂文·霍尔(Steven Holl)设计，它位于南京老山森林公园的一个建筑群的中心，该建筑群由24座建筑组成，包括矶崎新设计的会议中心，埃托雷·索特萨斯(Ettore Sottsass)设计的娱乐中心，刘家琨设计的酒店以及大卫·阿贾耶(David Adjaye)、阿尔贝托·卡拉赫(Alberto Kalach)和艾未未等人设计的休闲屋。整个项目被称为“中国国际建筑艺术实践展”，陆氏家族为该项目投资了1.64多亿美元。他们希望整个项目通过场地租借、酒店预订和门票每年能赢利2000万元，能在运营的第四年实现自给自足。开幕展由比利时历史学家菲利普·皮洛特(Philippe Pirotte)策划，展出的是借来的作品以及该博物馆的永久藏品，包括以下艺术家的作品——奥拉维尔·埃利亚松(Olafur Eliasson)、傅丹、马琳·杜马(Marlene Dumas)、安塞姆·基弗(Anselm Kiefer)、吕克·图伊曼斯、杨福东、张恩利、周春芽和张培力。

和陆氏家族一样，其他一些年轻的藏家也是继承了父母对收藏的热爱。25岁的周艟说他的家人（拥有一个大型药厂）2001开始购买艺术品，他从2010年开始效仿，购买了日本艺术家草间弥生的一幅自画像。周艟在加州大学洛杉矶分校获得了艺术史学位，现在重点关注中国的年轻艺术家，比如仇晓飞、孙逊和石至莹。他没有建博物馆存放自己的藏品，而是在上海开了一家名叫Macasa的西班牙tapas餐馆，在那里的墙上轮流展出。

年仅23岁的史健也是受到家人的鼓舞开始了收藏。他的家族财富来自金融业。史健正在法国斯特拉斯堡大学攻读国际关系硕士学位，他说他祖母曾于20世纪30年代在巴黎和里昂求学，收藏印象派和新古典主义画作。他从2012年开始收藏，最初收藏的是当代艺术家杭春晖的水墨画。现在，虽然他也拥有欧洲和美国艺术家的作品，但他收藏的重点是徐累、郝量、黄丹和潘文逊等艺术家的当代水墨画。他还开始关注中国年轻艺术家，比如抽象画家王广乐和水彩画家郭鸿蔚。“我的收藏反映的是我的品位，我的童年经历，我理想的生活，我的哲学和宗教观念，”这位收藏家说。

年仅23岁的史健受到家人的鼓舞开始了收藏。

史健的购买方式显得诚挚而认真，周大为和妻子应青蓝则完全是复杂的上海买家。周大为几乎染指艺术市场的每个层次。他是两个画廊的赞助人：许宇画廊和王子的天线空间。他还是上海最新的艺术博览会Art021的主要资助人，该博览会2013年首次举办时吸引到了白立方画廊和贝浩登画廊(Galerie Perrotin)。该博览会的正式组织者是应青蓝和包一峰——前者拥有北京的以太空间，后者是霖杰公关公司的主理合伙人。与此同时，他从2004年起还构建了自己的收藏系列，名叫CC基金会。

“如果我住在美国或欧洲，我的主要精力可能用于收藏，”周大为说，“但是在中国，如果我不资助画廊，不支持艺术博览会，那谁会去做呢？没人会做。”他承认自己参与的各种活动可能在很多人看来具有利益冲突。但他坚称，他是靠自己的公司信都国际租赁有限公司维持生计——该公司管理价值两亿多美元的资产以及2000多辆轿车和卡车——而不是通过艺术投资。他估计自己在艺术方面的投资在150多万美元。不管怎样，他相信，鉴于给中国带来的益处，他的声誉冒点风险还是值得的。“中国不需要更多的艺术博物馆。中国需要一个成熟的艺术体系，需要像我这样帮助确立这个体系的人，”他说道。

图解欧洲高级定制珠宝的制作过程

米兰珠宝品牌波米雷特(Pomellato)早就不声不响地奠定了自己的地位，成为时尚欧洲女性的日常珠宝首饰品牌，这只崭新的圆顶平底珊瑚戒指则堪称该品牌最受喜爱的颓废派对配饰。它是公司的Pom Pom高级定制珠宝系列产品，每款只生产一只。硕大的宝石安装在白金与玫瑰金底座上，周围环绕着用141粒白钻石、橙色宝石和红色尖晶石镶嵌的马赛克图案。它的设计花费了300个小时，灵感则来自20世纪30年代奢华的赤道主题盛宴。如今只剩一场正装出席的盛会和一杯烈性的大都会鸡尾酒可供人们回想。

波米雷特Pom Pom高级定制珠宝系列中的一枚珊瑚戒指，有待报价。

制作一款波米雷特戒指

Studio Visit: Li Ying

Ethereal metal sculptures hint at the Beijing artist's ongoing continuum with time

Li Ying is a young, Beijing-based sculptor from Hunan province, who's gained increasing attention for her monumental metal artworks—the latest of which mesmerized audiences at a recent CAFA postgraduate exhibition. We visited her studio in Heiqiao village in the outskirts of Beijing, a place where many emerging artists can still afford to find a peaceful nest in the middle of migrant workers’ villages, old warehouses and railway barns.

She is a pupil of master Sui Jianguo, who is the former chairman of the Department of Sculpture at CAFA, and a renowned artist for his work with metals and granite. His “Jurassic Age,” the caged red dinosaurs standing in front of UCCA, have become an icon of the 798 art district.

At the core of her sculptures is a peculiar approach to space and time. “From my earliest to my latest works, I see my artistic production as a continuum, I pursue the exploration of spacial relations: my own body, the artwork I create and its communication with the surrounding environment. Time plays as well a key role as a continuum; I never feel my artworks to be complete, I consider them parts of an ongoing process where time is a substrate where new connections can be built."

In Li’s early work “Time,” her ideas about space and time take shape in a massive metal net structure which create a line of tension in the middle of an eight-meters-wide room.

I like accidental aspects to be part of my creative process.

 In a process (which required three months of work), Li welded—one by one—tiny bits of metal to create two suspended, organic-looking structures, which seem to grow toward each other. As she recalls, “I started from an idea, a very simple sketch, I didn’t know what the outcome would have been, it was like something growing with me, day by day, a sequence of unexpected micro-events. I like accidental aspects to be part of my creative process.”

The mix of materials, and Li's fascination for the unexpected life of her creations, found an ideal medium in metal wire, a material which can be bended but still keeps its own inertia. “It has its own strength but at the same time can give you an idea of lightness, like it was floating in the air,” she remarks.

In her 2013 series “Cishi - Hechu” (which translates to "This Moment - Where"), wires of different colors are woven together with wood structures, visually overturning the balance of gravities and creating a continuous flow between the two media. As she points out, “The flow continues in the surrounding space, in the shadows projected on the floor and on the walls,” an aspect which makes her particularly sensitive to the features of the exhibiting space.

Her latest work “Jia - Kong” has a more explicit connection with the location where it was conceived. The artwork is jaw-dropping; a suspended, life-sized skeleton made of thousands of almost-invisible metal filaments, which was originally built inside Li's old family home back in Hunan, a few months before the whole area was torn down. The flow of relations between the artwork, the surrounding environment and the personal history here become extremely strong and poetic. As Li explains, “I saw a parallel between a skeleton made of thin wires and the fragility of my old home, at the same time I feel a sense of emptiness when I look at it, the same emptiness I feel for the disappearance of my old neighborhood, soon to be replaced by anonymous skyscrapers”.

Thanks to her extraordinary talent and personal approach to sculpture, Li has been awarded an art residency at Yishu 8 in Beijing. Her artworks will be here showcased in a solo exhibition opening 22 November 2014.