Maker of the Week - Syann Van Niftrik

Syann Van Niftrik

Jewellery in various materials, not bling, not Asprey's, simply different.

1 Money spent on travel is never wasted, it’s such a great escape.

2 One favourite living craft maker?
TASSO MATTAR. For his joy in living and making, his generosity in commitment to the creative community. AND Tamiko

3 One favourite historical artist?
Alexander Calder for his philosophical and physical sense of balance


4 One favourite historical maker?
ANONYMOUS: I am overcome with respect when I see such care and devotion, purely for the pleasure of the ‘doing’……..no kudos.

5 When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I’ve no idea, I’ve always made things.

6 Do you work best on your own or in collaboration?
On my own, I’m quite secretive. However, I am beginning to feel I’d like to have a go at collaboration.

7 What was the last art/craft/design thing you purchased? What one product/item do you really covet?
I last bought a wall tile from Jonathan Garratt…I’ve seen it at his pottery for years, always loved it and bought it last week. I covet one of those antique rectangular Japanese laquer trays with the makers cartouche. Both these objects are simple, beautifully proportioned and made with integrity.



8 Last best read?
Two; ‘Silk’ by Alessndro Baricco and ‘Howard Hodgkin’ writers on Hodgkin

9 How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace?
The times I tried I got it all wrong and had to recycle the piece.

10 Who would you say buys your work?
People with a sense of personal adventure.

11 How do you set about starting a new project?
Finding the time to make the thing clamouring loudest in my head.


12 What do you have on your pinboard?
Layers and layers of cuttings, cards, sticks, photos, bits of bark, rusty metal, bills and DUST.

13 Where and what is your studio?
A room at the end of the house with Radio 4, Radio 3 ….when no ones at home, in silence.

14 What is your favourite website?
The internet exhausts me, I avoid it, but now and then, I’ve been sent to fantastic sites which I no longer remember how to find.


15 Do you have a good work/life balance? Are you able to switch off from art work?
I think I’m balanced, I haven’t found the OFF switch, and I’m not sure I know where the ON button is either.


16 What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
normality

17 Would you rather be doing something else?
Yes, sing.

18 Do you think art and craft has any real importance?
Why should it not have importance? It is undeniably a part of life, communication and basic culture.

19 Are their other fields that you'd like to apply some facet of your work into?
Disaffected sections of the community, but I’m not sure I’d know how.


20 Guilty secret?
Yes but in my book, a secret is a secret

21 Can anything be 'art'?
Only if it’s made from true spirit, even if it is a joke.

22 What do you think are crimes against good taste & decency in art/craft/design?
Good taste.

23 If you could exhibit in any gallery which would it be?
Guggenheim New York because it lends itself to ‘the journey’ and it is so perfectly imperfect.