Rachel Fitzpatrick Design
Highlights of some exhibitions and showcases Rachel has been invited to present her work in.
Highlights of some exhibitions and showcases Rachel has been invited to present her work in.
Rachel is delighted to be invited to collaborate with Author Interiors to showcase one of her lighting sculptures in the VIP suite in this years London Art Fair.
The piece selected for the VIP Suite is called ‘Moon’ - the name is inspired by the language used to describe NFT’s is created from 250m of Velcro ribbons hand sculpted onto a metal frame.
London Art Fair were founded in 1989 by London’s Business Design Centre in Islington – where the Fair still takes place today – with the aim of providing a space to showcase exceptional Modern and Contemporary Art, to discover and to buy.
This years fair runs 21-24 April with a private view on the evening of the 20th April.
I was delighted to have had my worked selected for this wonderful exhibition ‘Our Journey’ in the National Centre for Craft and Design (recently re-named the HUB) in Sleaford, England.
“Our Journey” was originally planned to mark Design-Nation’s 20th anniversary in 2020. Sadly, due to Covid-19 this wasn’t meant to be. However, in 2022 this exhibition marks a significant milestone in the evolution of Design-Nation and its portfolio of leading contemporary designer-makers from across the UK.
The exhibition celebrates an impressive selection of 25 Design-Nation members. Working in a range of craft disciplines, selected members embody the values that have now become the most important aspects of Design-Nation today. A showcase of diverse material-led practices, Our Journey emphasises excellence and beauty of design and craftsmanship and highlights the sector’s increasingly committed focus on innovative ways to address sustainability and embrace ethical making. The exhibition opened to the public on Sat 29 Jan – Sun 24 Apr 2022.
My piece (Forbidden Embrace) explores my going engagement with the material world. Lockdown had many negative impacts and constraints on our lives while we cocooned ourselves. However, it also gave us time to reflect on the many things we do not discern or appraise. I strive to push the boundaries of my practice through scale and colour creating a highly sensory environment where both luminosity and acoustics alter as viewers explore the piece. There is a forbidden tactility to my work - the innate desire to touch this familiar material (VELCRO) is constrained and playfully cocooned as a piece of art in a formal setting.
Materials: Pigmented Velcro, Aluminium hoops & chain
Dimensions: 80x80x600cm
Photo Credit: Scott Murray
For more information on the piece click here.
Detail of (Forbidden) Embrace
Detail of (Forbidden) Embrace
(Forbidden) Embrace in background of Our Journey exhibition. If you’d like to find out more about this exhibition, its exhibitors, The Hub or Design Nation, click on here for the digital showcase and virtual tour.
Rachel Fitzpatricks work was presented by the Global Art Affairs Foundation to showcasing her work at VENICE DESIGN, the largest design exhibition running alongside La Biennale di Venezia in May 2018.
Rachel’s work was displayed at the at the European Cultural Centre, based in one of the cities historic palaces, Palazzo Michiel, located off the Grand Canal and in the heart of the Venice Biennale.
Over the six-month exhibition, running May 26 to November 25 2018, fifty creators from over twenty-five different countries of various cultural backgrounds, ages and points in their careers are invited to present work in VENICE DESIGN. One of the curators, Camille Guibaud, speaks of the exhibition: “During the Art Biennial, VENICE DESIGN intends to show a glimpse of the approaches of today’s international designers and is a testimony as well as an evidence of the current design scene”.
The European Cultural Centre based in one of the cities historic palaces, Palazzo Michiel, located off the Grand Canal and in the heart of the Venice Biennale.
Rachel designed and created an exquisite sculptural chandelier, called “Fionn", in her signature style utilizing industrial materials. The sculpture was been specially crafted for the exhibition using over 650metres of hook and loop fastening tape.
‘Fionn’ is the namesake of the mythical Northern Irish giant, Fionn Mac Cumhaill. Legend speaks of Fionn’s size, strength and skill, but in particular the ability to outwit his enemies through disguise. Fitzpatrick has taken a heavy industrial material, sculpted it, disguising it as a giant lighting sculpture standing over two and a half meters long. Not dissimilar to MacCumhaill, she hopes to temporarily beguile the audience, inviting them to relook at the material by creating an elegant chandelier, using an everyday industrial material.
Fitzpatrick was able to attend the openings of the exhibition due to the generous to funding received from the Arts council of Northern Ireland and the British Council of Northern Ireland
Rachel Fitzpatrick was delighted to collaborate with Jane Hallworth, one of L.A.’s most sought after Interior Designers, to create this piece for her “Thinking Man’s Den”, a room created for the The Hollywood Reporters premier Showhouse at The Century, L.A.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Cultural Editor, Degen Pener pulled together 10 of the U.S.’s design elite to curate the space in Century City for the THR inaugural showhouse. The showcase was open to the public by ticketed sales only with proceeds benefiting the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts. It co-produced by real estate developer, Related Companies,
It “exemplifies sophisticated Hollywood glamour” says Pener, “Los Angeles has some of the most stunning residences in the world, and millions want to emulate an L.A. Lifestyle. These are the designers behind those houses”.
Fitzpatrick was delighted to have been invited to create a special piece for an event during New York Design week to support the collaborate between the luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman and international design journal Wallpaper* magazine.
The piece was specified in the colour orange and measured 600x600x800mm (23.5”x23.5”x31.5”).
Rachel Fitzpatrick was delighted to be included in this exhibition which celebrated the best in fine craft and design on the island of Ireland.
This was an especially important exhibition not just because it was located in the same town as Fitzpatrick’s studio but because it was also the start of an important relationship with F.E McWilliam Gallery & Studio leading to many artistic collaborations with both the gallery and the local council.
Materials: Velcro, Aluminium Frame Feathers
Dimensions: ø800mm, ø600mm, ø400mm
Photography Credit: Glenn Norwood
