Property News · October 16, 2023

‘Such joyous work’: the thrillingly subversive ceramics of Simon Pettet find a perfect stage


With its ceiling rose made of plastic fruit from Tesco, the extraordinary house/museum/art installation that was home to Dennis Severs is a magnificent setting for the witty, wonderful pottery of his partnerI only met Dennis Severs once but it’s an encounter I’ve never forgotten. We were introduced in the basement kitchen of 18 Folgate Street, the 18th-century townhouse in London’s Spitalfields he’d lived in since 1979 , which now bears his name. Severs eyed me up from the Victorian cooking range as a tube train thundered beneath our feet, so close it seemed it might burst through the floor. It was a summer’s day but, as Severs had banished mod cons and lived by candlelight, the room was pitch dark. It was also bitingly cold. I bumped into a chair draped with a mobcap, an old-fashioned type of frilly hat. No wonder it made an impression.This was 1992 and I had just started at the World of Interiors. I would go on to edit the magazine for 22 years – and to keep a fascinated eye on this house/museum/art installation that, after Severs’ death in 1999, was saved and run by The Spitalfields Trust. When I left the magazine last year, I was asked to curate an exhibition – the house’s first – of ceramics by Simon Pettet, the long-term partner of Severs. I jumped at the chance. It has now opened – but you can’t fully understand the exhibition without first learning about this extraordinary house and its past, both fictional and real. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…‘Such joyous work’: the thrillingly subversive ceramics of Simon Pettet find a perfect stage

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