Misshapes: The making of Tatty Devine is open at The Wilson Art Galley and Museum

Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine, is now open (daily apart from Mondays until the 3rd November) at The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum in Cheltenham, the first regional venue on a UK-wide tour.

Tatty Devine’s statement jewellery is always ahead of the curve. Their jewellery tells stories and generates conversation. The new Crafts Council exhibition, Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine, considers the power of creativity and innovative British design and making, alongside the glamour and humour that Tatty Devine are known for.

The exhibition is proving to be a big hit.  Top right image - Harriet Vine, one of the founders of Tatty Devine. Images - Mikal Ludlow.

The exhibition is the first about the design duo, Harriet Vine and Rosie Wolfenden, who met at Chelsea College of Art and founded Tatty Devine when they graduated in 1999. They soon started trading from a market stall in east London and developed a signature style that saw them lauded in Vogue and stocked in Harvey Nichols and Whistles within the year. They discovered laser-cut acrylic on a trip to New York in 2001. On their return, they invested in a laser-cutting machine, rarely used in jewellery at that time, which then gave them a creative freedom to push the boundaries. Something they continue to do to this day.

Speaking at the launch, attended by nearly 200 visitors, Harriet Vine said: “We haven’t done anything like this before and working with the Crafts Council, I can see how all of their hard work has paid off in the way the exhibition has translated into the space. 

“It’s been a real process of elimination between the many thousands of things we have held in our archive, trying to whittle them down to the pieces we were going to include in the show.

“It’s lovely to see the way the timeline falls through the building as it were; upstairs you get to concentrate on the market stall and the beginnings but when you come downstairs you get a different reveal.”

The exhibition features over 100 pieces from the Tatty Devine archive, from the early leather cuffs and piano belts to giant two-metre versions of their ‘greatest hits’ including a lobster, their magpies and a huge banana motif.

A selection of Tatty Devine jewellery and the book accompanying the exhibition are available to purchase in The Wilson shop on the ground floor of the gallery.

Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine details

Tickets are available at the venue or can be purchased in advance on The Wilson website.

For more information, call 01242 387488 or email [email protected]

Exhibition details:  Open daily until the 3 November 2019 (Closed Mondays).

Galleries Two and Three, The Wilson, Clarence Street, Cheltenham, GL50 3JT. 

Admission: £5, concessions £3 (Gift Aid option available.)

Tickets are available at the venue or can be purchased in advance on The Wilson website.

For more information, call 01242 387488 or email [email protected]