For the past six years, the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair has championed designer craft-makers and given the public the opportunity to buy original jewellery, fashion, ceramics, glass, wood and furniture, lighting, metal, basketry and much more.
When Northern Soul visited in October, one stall in particular caught our eye. Lucentia (based in Glossop) produces the most extraordinary products for the home, made from recycled and sustainable plastics and textiles. The company says that its inspiration stems from a desire to produce quality eco products. But it’s rare to see something so practical morph into such a beautiful item. Northern Soul talked to Lucentia’s creative director, Stella Corrall.
Northern Soul: How on earth do you go about taking discarded plastics and turn them into the beautiful items I saw at the Craft Fair?
Stella Corrall: Of the technologies that we have developed, some of them are standard processing techniques. But we have had to develop and refine them. We’ve worked very hard finding sources of plastic that we can recycle. We always wanted to make Lucentia’s products as sustainable as possible, wherever possible we use recycled material.
NS: Some of your designs look like fragments of cloth. In addition to plastics, what materials do you use?
SC: We use textiles, they are reclaimed. There’s always an element of that in our work, we are passionate about it. As far as possible, the textiles are sourced that way. So old swatches, pieces that are small and normally thrown away. We look at end of line fabrics.
NS: Where do you get the plastic from?
SC: It is sourced from local industry waste. So, end of rolls, plastic with imperfections, anything going in the skips.
NS: Some of your products have leaves within them. How do you do that?
SC: They are skeleton leaves from a Fairtrade source. And we use small pieces of textile threads, it’s about creating diversity of design.
NS: You’re a pretty new company. How many people do you employ?
SC: We have two core members of staff and we have freelancers if we need extra help. We are proud of our offering and of our personal service.
NS: If you had to sum up your company, what would you say?
SC: We are all about sustainably inspired design. We produce quality products with a sustainable outlook. We work with a really unusual material, there is so much potential for it and so much appreciation for it.”
Interview by Helen Nugent
More info: http://www.lucentia-design.com/
