Industrial Makeshifts and Memories of Work

About this event

Taking as a starting point the material presence of leather in their work and research, Simon Hasan and Ektoras Arkomanis reflected on themes of labour/work, declining industries, artistic practice, craft, and design.

Simon’s work and research explores how ancient crafts techniques can be recontextualised and appropriated to both bestow in the new and maintain in the old, the notion of cultural relevance. Most notably working with the Medieval craft of Cuir Bouilli (translating as 'Boiled Leather’), Simon’s site-specific intervention, Industrial Makeshift (2010) explores themes of commerce, craft and industry, whilst also questioning the role of the handmade within the modern production system. In contrast to this, Simon reflected upon his eponymous collection of homewares designed and sold through international retailers since 2012 to the present day, itself catalysed by Simon’s tenure as Designer in Residence at the Design Museum, London.

Ektoras’ forthcoming film Work / Memories of Work observes work inside the last tannery in Eleonas, an area in Athens with a long history of identities: ancient olive grove, industrial zone, part-wasteland, but also host of informal infrastructures, makeshift occupations, and transitional populations. Ektoras’ film attempts to access some of the lost pasts through recording material traces and the present image of the place, but his research also contemplates the medium’s complicity in the disappearance of work, as the latter is being turned into images.

Speakers

Ektoras Arkomanis is an artist working primarily with moving image, and a senior lecturer in the history and theory of architecture at London Metropolitan University. His research revolves around cities in film, especially places that lie in the margins of the city’s conscience. For the past 10 years, Ektoras has been carrying out fieldwork in the area of Eleonas, in Athens, Greece, which usually takes the form of filming (Passage Variations, 2019) and writing (notably, in the journal Architecture and Culture, published by Taylor and Francis). Ektoras recently created an installation for Anti-Apartheid Legacy and The Liliesleaf Trust (Protea/Extraction, 2023, Mae Shummo, Lucia Medina Uriarte, Ektoras Arkomanis), and he is currently editing the film Work / Memories of Work, to be completed and exhibited as an installation later in 2024.

Simon Hasan graduated from the Royal College of Art (MA Design Products) under Ron Arad and Jurgen Bey in 2008. Garnering international attention for his distinctive use of the Medieval technique of Cuir Bouilli (Boiled Leather), Hasan works in a territory straddling Craft and Industrial Design. His work spans commissions for global brands such as Fendi, Chloé, Berluti and The Macallan, in addition to the production of limited edition works for leading galleries in London and New York. Simon’s research seeks to enhance understanding of the applicability of crafts techniques to resolutely 21st Century context. Recognising the competing interests of industrial production, medieval craft, and contemporary design, the desire is to create a symbiotic relationship between the past and present. Simon’s works are in important private collections, in addition to the permanent collections of the British Crafts Council, Gewerbe Museum, and Fondazione Fendi. He is the course leader for BA(Hons) Furniture and Product Design at London Metropolitan University.