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Vault/2012

The Absolute Object of Desire

24 November 2012 - 19 December 2012

New Yorker columnist Andrea Lee has written "...for the past several years we have been living in a gilded age of handbags: a rococo time of profligacy, opulence, heights of stylistic genius and depths of vulgarity, but, above all, a time of exponential proliferation and vitality. Since the turn of the millennium, the role of the handbag has changed from that of a useful but peripheral accessory to the absolute object of desire."

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Sample of Samplers

30 June 2012 - 18 August 2012

What we recognise as a sampler emerged in sixteenth century England. Samplers at this time were made by wealthy women as reference guides of particular stitches, motifs and border designs at a time when pattern books were rare. Needlework for members of the leisured classes was an essential social accomplishment and for others needlework proficiency was a means of economic survival.

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Kapiti Ceramics: The Brian Wood Collection

11 May 2012 - 09 June 2012

"The driver when I started collecting ceramics was my relationship with the potters... As my collection grew it began to include works by makers I didn't know. After shifting cities and countries a few times I have honed my collection down to those works I could not bear to part with, and as it happens, these are the Kapiti works that I first collected. The reason I can't part with these pots is due to my connections with their makers." - Brian Wood

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The Lives of Linen

17 March 2012 - 09 May 2012

An early twentieth century guide regarding household linen advises: "Every housekeeper delights in a goodly supply of household linen....it is a true economy to buy an adequate supply of linen at one time, for by this method every article will last much longer....An ordinary outfit that will give good satisfaction is one dozen table cloths, six dozen napkins...several tea cloths and sufficient centrepieces, sideboard covers, scarves, doilies...to give sufficient change when some items are in the laundry."

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