Candice Lau is an artist in search for a tactile language in leather and clay to transpose the silence experienced as a displaced person.
My art examines the visceral sensations felt by those living in displacement. Resonating with my own struggle of being displaced, my sculptures are an exploration of my relationship with place as a displaced person. I am discovering a tactile language to which allows these sensations to be expressed, take up space, whilst giving us the permission to stay silent.
The sculptures are formed by the intentional amalgamation of two materials, leather and clay. A marriage that happened organically as I embraced their contradictions; with leather, every step must be planned and measured, while clay is malleable and highly impressionable. I progress with the cross fertilisation of techniques, weaving and pulling clay as if it was leather, and treating leather as if it was a material with fluid characteristics. All the while pushing each material into uncomfortable positions with palpable tension. This process mirrors our struggle and discomfort to adapt in a so-called new home.
The result of this performative act are highly textural sculptural forms where the two contrasting materials are effortlessly entangled. In its juxtaposition, clay embraces leather and leather leads clay to find a new shape and identity. As we ruminate over these forms, we may eventually lose all sense of the materiality and ultimately sit with the transposed silence, a new language that gives a physical form, resonance, and hope to the muted struggles of displacement. More pointedly, it gives us the permission to stay silent, all the while expressing these overwhelming feelings.
BIO
Candice Lau is an award winning master leatherworker and sculptor. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Australia, she eventually set up her practice in London at Cockpit Studios. Her practice combines her decade long experience working in traditional leatherwork from a design and making direction, to her more recent shift into an artistic direction after challenging the way she works with leather and inviting clay into her practice. In her artistic work, she breaks convention and employ leather as a tool, rather than a finished product, to shape the form of the highly impressionable material, clay. With these media, she explores her relationship with place, identity and often exploring her own experience with displacement. The results are tactile and expressive sculptural forms that blurs the boundary between the two materials, as well, establishes a new creative language for the artist.
Her extensive experience with leather has attracted commissions from clients including Audemas Piguet, New Balance, John Smedley, Hermes, Toast, Bang and Olufsen, Heals, and Lacoste.
She is also a lecturer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, teaching ‘Essential Leatherwork’ in a MA/PgD Bespoke and New Couture.
To date, Candice has been granted an the a scholarship at the European Cultural Academy in Venice, an Arts Council's Develop Your Creative Practice grant, won a Queen Elizabeth Trust Scholarship, chosen as an ambassador for the John Smedley 235th anniversary, shortlisted for the Maker of the Year award with the Heritage Craft Association, as well, won the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers and Cockpit Arts award. Through a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust grant, Candice had her leathercraft training in Florence, Italy by learning from the masters of leather at the Scuola del Cuoio. In her new artistic direction, she has embarked on further training at Citylit in ceramics.
LIST OF CLIENTS
Audemas Piguet, Selfridges, New Balance, Toast, John Smedley, Hermes, Coach, Heals, Talia Byre, Thomas Sehn, Nick James Groarke Publishers, Creative Dimensions, Octopus Publishings, Yrmos, Wagamama, Maion d’If, House and Garden Magazine, Danielle Field, Bang and Olufsen, Martine Rose, Hylink, Peju Obasa, GmbH, Kipper and Co, Bella Lane, Ultrafabrics, Squire and Partners, Plus X Brighton, Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, Worshipful Company of Leathersellers, Vitra, Crafts Council, Gabriel Scott, Victoria and Albert Museum
AWARDS
European Cultural Academy 'Contemporary Art: Framework to Develop Your Ideas', 2023
Arts Council ‘ Develop Your Creative Practice’ grant 2022
Artist Network ‘Time, Space and Money’ grant 2021
Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust and Leathersellers grant 2017
Shortlisted for ‘Maker of the Year' 2017 with Heritage Craft Association
Two times winner of the Cockpit Arts and Leathersellers Award, 2015-16
EXHIBITIONS
'Future Icons Select’ for London Crafts Week 2023 in London, UK
'Decorex with QEST' 2022 in London, UK
'Material Matters' 2022 in London, UK'
'John Smedley Tokyo' John Smedley Store, 2020, Tokyo, Japan
'John Smedley London' John Smedley London, 2019, London, UK
Craft Trend' 2017 & 2018 in Seoul, South Korea
'Seoul International Handmade Fair' 2017 & 2018 in Seoul, South Korea
'Design Junction' for London Design Festival 2016, 2017 & 2018 in London, UK
'London Craft Week' with John Smedley 2019 in London, UK
'Concours of Elegance' with QEST 2018 in Hampton Court, UK
'Windsor Horse Race' with QEST 2018 in Windsor, UK
'London Craft Week' with QEST 2018 in London, UK
'Designers Hub' 2016 & 2017 for Milan Design Week in Milan, Italy
RESIDENCIES:
Coach: Tomorrow's Vintage. 3 months artist in residence. London, UK 2022
CraftsHub Residency ‘Bricks and Tiles’, Montemor O Novo, Portugal 2022
Heals in store demonstration as artist in residence. London, UK 2015
PUBLICATIONS:
A Golden Age of Creativity' - FT Weekender 2022 ‘The Leathercraft Handbook: A Step by Step Guide to Techniques and Projects’ - English edition - Published by Octopus Publishing 2020. - French edition - Published by Eyrolles 2020 - Finnish edition - Published by Kustannus-Mäkelä 2020
'Having Destiny in the Bag' - Sydney Morning Herald 2020 'For Candice, It's a Maker's Life' - UTS News 2020
'Meet the Makers - Candice Lau' for John Smedley - The Essential Journal 2019
'House and Garden' magazine - featured bag design 2016 'Q&A with Candice Lau' - Holborn Magazine 2016