Michelle Mckinney
Michelle McKinney
Michelle McKinney works with exceptionally fine woven metals, including stainless steel and brass. The unusual translucency of these materials brings a very ethereal quality to her work. Her artwork is inspired by the space between opposites; Her choice of subject matter deliberately contrasts with the materials used in her work. The movement of hundreds of delicate butterfly wings or falling leaves are depicted in materials renowned for their strength and durability. This preoccupation with opposites, movement captured in stillness; the fragility and ephemerality of nature captured in the strength and permanence of industrial, man-made material is ever present in Michelle’s work. “My work is constantly inspired by the elegance and fragility of the natural world.” After receiving a bachelor’s degree in jewellery design and silversmithing from Birmingham School of Jewellery, she quickly realized that her artistic practice was leading her to create work on a much larger scale. Each tiny piece of metal is hand cut and manipulated, layer by layer, to create a very unique multi dimensional work. Whilst utilising timeless symbols found in nature such as birds, leaves and butterflies, the methods and media used are innovative applications of contemporary industrial materials. This play between the timeless and the immediate is at the heart of Michelle’s work. Michelle McKinney has created artworks for a number of high-profile institutions, including The British Council, The Crafts Council, and The Royal Albert Memorial Museum. Most recently, Michelle McKinney collaborated with designer Issey Miyake.
Debbie Symth
Debbie Smyth
Debbie Smyth is textile artist most identifiable by her statement thread drawings and installations. Her work beautifully blurs the boundaries between fine art drawings and textile art, 2D and 3D work, illustration and embroidery, literally lifting the drawn line off the page in a series of “pin and thread” drawings. Her contemporary artwork is playful yet highly sophisticated and is created by stretching a network of threads between accurately plotted pins. Based in Stroud, Gloucester. Debbie specialises in the performance of line, pushing the expected scope of textiles to produce captivating illustrative tapestries and awe-inspiring tactile surfaces. She established her studio practice in 2009 following a run of successful commissions from large scale hotel installations, live performance event art, to statement window displays for some of the world’s biggest brands. Due to the scale of the projects she works on the studio has now expanded into a family led team that come together to make her complex visions a reality. “I enjoy being in command of the fiber. I enjoy the performance of taking a line for a walk. Our process is very material led. We look at thread as a drawing medium; how the thread falls or knots, often dictates the next step. Achieving complex shading and tactile surface patterns through an innovative application of pins and thread. We enjoy taking thread out of it’s comfort zone, presenting it on monumental scale and creating an eye-catching, and in some case jaw dropping effect.”
Hard Rock Hotel, Madrid
What we did
Coming Soon
The Fellows House, Cambridge
What we did
We were thrilled to be invited to be the art consultants to help fulfill the vision for this unforgettable hotel. Our Art Story team worked closely with Interior Designers Twenty2Degress to ensure the art played its critical part.
Our work created an additional layer to the interior design whilst staying faithful to the ethos of the designer. It needed to be original, true to the brand, modern, and infused with a sense of place and fun.
As Harry Pass, Creative Director and the driving force behind Art Story explains, his research trips to Cambridge were pivotal. “Cambridge is one those places overflowing with inspiration and we had to work hard to decide what to leave out”.
The result is a carefully considered and balanced artwork collection celebrating all facets of fellow’s life. From the arresting portrait of David Nicol, Cambridge’s first African fellow, to a love note penned by a Chinese student and leader of China’s New Culture Movement. The 100 year old poem is re-imagined across a cluster of art including Chinese symbols, calligraphy, and laser-cut lettering.
Our favourite pieces are surprising photographs of Stephen Hawkins as a fresh-faced undergraduate that we uncovered from the archives. The bigger surprise is that the artworks also reveal the mathematical secret to the potential origins of the universe.
The Grand Hotel, Birmingham
What we did
Robert Angell Design International challenged Elegant Clutter to build an art scheme that offered a fresh and unexpected look at the hotel’s history. Our response was to deploy our consultancy team, Art Story, to forge friendships with Birmingham’s thriving art community.
The result was an expertly blended collection of over a thousand artworks that meander through the hotels many impressive spaces. Creations from our own Art Story studio hang happily alongside work from local artists. Together they pay homage to the city’s architecture and intriguing industrial past. This is hotel art at its most eclectic.
The reception features a striking artwork inspired by Birmingham’s Royal Ballet. The neon enhances the sense of movement and energy, setting a playful but sophisticated tone for the rest of the hotel. The presentation of the artwork in this hotel is bold and contemporary and invites the guest to wander off and see what’s around the next corner.
To enhance the guest experience further, a hundred page Art Guide, produced by Art Story, explains the story behind each piece.
American Express, Heathrow
What we did
American Express are renowned for offering exclusive access to airport lounges around the globe. They are places to unwind with complimentary refreshments but also offer a chance to explore some incredible artistic talent.
American Express worked with Elegant Clutter to commission and curate a collection of artwork for their guests pleasure. Our Art Story consultants researched and briefed suitable art partners to collaborate with to create the perfect ambience for the space.
The newest lounge at Heathrow Airport is adorned with works from renowned celebrity photographer Norman Parkinson, mixed media art from Stephen Marshall and architectural pencil drawings from Minty Sainsbury. A plaque explaining each piece includes a QR code that directs the customer to a website with the artists biography.
To complete the collection, our own studio created artworks celebrating the many facets of London, old and new. A hand-embroidered interpretation of the London Underground and an Elton John likeness are designed to capture the traveller’s attention. This is a project where art offers a window into a different reality and an escape from the otherwise mundane.
Hard Rock Hotel, Budapest
What we did
Elegant Clutter’s Art Story team worked directly with the Hard Rock Hotel brand in the US to create an art collection inspired by moments that rocked the city. By combining our in house fabrication with art consultancy we created a heady mix of heritage and rock & roll. Full to the brim with a riot of colour and personality.
‘The Beat’ feature piece greets guests to the building and shows how branding can become artwork. Created in brass, it was inspired by sound waves on a radial equalizer. ‘Firework’ is a reminder of the time Katy Perry filmed her infamous video on the streets of Budapest. Continuing the neon theme is the striking ‘Love Will Tear us Apart’ artwork inspired by the Joy Division classic.
In the Rock Star Suite is ‘Rubik Rewired’, a homage to the Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik, with its frame made of Rubik’s cubes. It’s also home to an original painting by Anton Molnar, a widely exhibited Hungarian artist commissioned by Art Story in celebration of guitar players everywhere.
The artwork, inside and out, for Hard Rock Hotel Budapest is the result of months of dedicated research. Each artwork tells a story of what has been before, while inspiring the guest to be the rock star of their own life.
Lucia, Harrogate
What we did
The client for the sumptuous Lucia Restaurant and Wine Bar presented a very challenging artwork brief. They wanted to develop the interior scheme of their third restaurant to new levels whilst staying faithful to the established branding. The designers, Studio Two, saw the art execution as integral to this strategy.
An organic and fluid approach enabled Elegant Clutter’s artists to explore the art direction alongside the interior designer. The result was a distinctive collection of unique art to adorn both walls and ceilings. The restaurant art adds to the guests feeling of being cosseted in a world of elegant fabrics, finishes and textures.
Carefully considered LED up-lighting and metallic papers add extra luxury and sophistication to the exquisitely detailed imagery. Advertised as a venue to celebrate food, wine and friends, some added Italian exuberance is served, courtesy of the art.
Hilton, Frankfurt
What we did
The designers at Hilton Worldwide were looking for an art consultant who wouldn’t be constrained by convention. Elegant Clutter deployed their Art Story team to put together an irreverent and vibrant art collection for Hilton, Frankfurt.
The brief was to create stimulating and surprising meeting rooms using Frankfurt’s nickname of ‘Mainhattan’ as the inspiration. Our art consultants were given the freedom to take this brief wherever they wanted.
The team blended pop art with surrealism. They employed some lateral thinking and deployed their audacity. The result is an energizing and quirky environment that sets the hotels meeting spaces apart.
The client was so pleased with the result that the ideas were allowed to spill out of the meeting rooms into other areas of the hotel.
Norman Parkinson
Norman Parkinson
Celebrated English portrait and fashion photographer, Norman Parkinson, CBE (21 April 1913 – 15 February 1990) was renowned for his easy and relaxed style. His work revolutionised British fashion photography, as he moved the craft out of the studio and into outdoor settings.
He constantly reinvented himself over seven decades, making himself a household name thanks to his front covers for Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. Norman focused his lense on the zeitgeist, shooting stars of the moment. His subjects included Audrey Hepburn, The Beatles and Jerry Hall and he continues to be celebrated for his natural spontaneity and his own art of storytelling.
He first became an official royal photographer in 1969, taking photographs for Princess Anne’s 19th birthday. He continued with many other royal portraits, including official portraits of Queen Elizabeth for her 75th birthday.
Norman received many honors during his life including the Royal Photographic Society’s Progress Medal, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, a Google Doodle, and a British postage stamp.
The Studio
The Studio
The Art Story Studio is a collection of artists with backgrounds ranging from fabric design to sculpture and everything in between. By imaginatively blending these techniques, they are able to create altogether new categories of art-making.
At the Studios heart is a team of talented fine artists, graphic designers and mixed media specialists. Collectively, they have a diverse understanding of materiality and how these materials can be combined to make something unique. A fusion of styles from past and present are often adopted to transform a traditional idea into something unexpected.
The team see the final presentation as integral to the art. They take pride in developing imaginative ways in which an artwork can be produced & framed. Experimentation and sampling are key to the creative process. The secret is to start with the idea and then work together to find a way to make it a reality. In this way, The Art Story Studio believe that when it comes to art, anything is possible.
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