Designer edge: Meet Claire Read
“They made me smile, made my heart leap a little. I guess you could say I fell in love.” Claire Read recalls when she first discovered her passion for making ‘storybox’ sculptures – little whimsical worlds created with repurposed materials. “I take the unwanted, the unloved, the damaged, the decayed and put them together in a way to celebrate the imperfections. They’re formed from vintage treasures; little pieces of the past lives of others, which come together to create a new story,” she says.
By Janai Velez
Over time, her love for her work has grown and she’s become more adventurous with her designs. And friends and associates have rallied to the cause – antique dealers recommend special pieces to her or they are collected as she does the rounds of textile and antique fairs, shops and flea markets. The result is cupboards full of boxes and a studio packed with vintage materials.
Immersing herself in antiques is an important part of her creative process. When she sees and holds an item, a story box idea is sparked. “I see the story unfolding right before my eyes. Sometimes I pick up an object and a song or piece of poetry immediately pops into my head.” This sets the whole theme for the story box.
As for the containers themselves, receptacles for her little worlds are generally pre-1930s boxes (tea caddies, jewellery cases, tabernacle boxes) and tins (previously used for sweets, medical equipment and food, such as Oxo). She also uses wooden drawers, lanterns, little suitcases, glass jars, cages and teacups … the more aged and imperfect the better.
Same goes for the materials used in the tins – embroidered pictures, tablecloths, handkerchiefs, quilt fragments, clothing pieces (“I have even used Victorian bloomers before, so the textiles really can be anything!”).
Claire also uses small antique paintings, small jewellery fragments, furniture trims, miniature teddies and dolls, millinery flowers, buttons (they make terrific moons!), pocket watches, bottle stoppers … the list goes on! “There are no rules as to what I will use, just that it has to be old, and it has to be something I find interesting.”
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For the scenic backdrop, a painting or a panel of fabric or embroidery is cut to size and blanket stitched around the edges. The quotes are either sculpted from wire or printed onto fabric with a typewriter and then hand stitched on. Boxes sometimes have handles or feet added (parts of chess pieces or abacus beads) and she lines the interior edges of the box with ribbon or fabric, before glueing the back panel into place. Tiny figures and embellishments are the final decorative triumphs.
Claire admits to a little inspirational help from the menagerie of animals at her home in the south west of the UK. “I have a smallholding of 10 acres, which is full of animals – all pets and all very cuddly. Llamas, sheep, kunekune pigs, geese, ducks – it’s a little world of its own, really; rather like one of my story boxes! It’s another thing that hugely inspires my work, as my animals get up to all sorts of antics.
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Like the times when Mini, my first sheep, used to come into my studio and rummage around in the box that holds all my vintage cotton reels, moving them all around with her mouth. Quite often, I find myself stepping over sleeping ducks or chickens and rescuing bits of fabric from nibbling sheep mouths!” They clearly appreciate the special charm of Claire Read’s work. Just as we do!
For more information on Claire Read, of Little Burrow Designs, visit her
Website, www.littleburrowdesigns.co.uk and
Facebook page, www.facebook.com/littleburrowdesigns.
You can also email her directly, claireread@littleburrowdesigns.co.uk
