Hammer-ton Time

I've got my pieces in a new outlet in Aberdeen - Hammerton Stores, 336 Great Western Road, AB10 6LX
http://www.hammertonstore.co.uk

The shop's owned by one of my friends Mums (Susan Watson)and is an amazing deli with lots of lovely organic and local produce.


http://www.craftscotland.org

Craft Scotland contains a pretty comprehensive list of makers and galleries in Scotland. It also has some interesting articles and links.

Busy Week!

Since my last up date I've been working way too hard! I've pretty much finished the collection. We shot pictures for the flier and the new website www.conanabel.co.uk on friday night. This is the setup we used, pretty ghetto but the results were amazing. Cheers Goldie!



I've also got Neil to thank for slinging this flier together for me at very short notice, cheers man!



The website should be up and running in some shape or form for this weekend. I also dropped 4 of the pieces in the current collection off at the Gallery Heinzel today. There is an amazing array of glass, sculpture and paintings. I for one, have not been the only one burning the midnight oil. The winter show opens on Saturday at 12pm and there will be free wine and snacks for anyone that feels like turning up and showing some support.

Old Work

I found out earlier today that some of the wooden chain I made last year (designed by Bruce Adam - Springbird Studios) has ended up in Selfriges in London. Wow!



The chain is made from burr elm and is full size just like the Anchor links you see for massive ships.

Late Nights

I've been working pretty hard since I last posted and things seem to be coming together. Here are some pictures from tonight (who works on halloween???).





Lot's of dust, bleary eyes but it's all coming good.

I also got another gallery on board last week and will have a new show in the Spring: http://www.panikgallery.com/ . The gallery's 20 mins outside of glasgow and is run by Paul and Annika who are also Textile designers.

New Lathe!

I went to Rochdale (Near Leeds) this weekend to pick up a lathe. I got really excited about this, I still am in fact. I've been busy all evening making shavings and trying my hardest to remove a digit, limb, eye etc. Anyway this is the first fruit of my labour.

Autumn's Arrived

I drove up to Tain (Highlands) on Monday to collect my latest (autumn winter) collection, all cut and polished, just waiting for my wooden contribution. Here's a sneaky peak at one vase before I get down to some serious whittling.


There is 14 pieces in total, all of which I hope to complete before the start of November (eeek!). I'll get some progress posts up in the next few days.

Long Weekend

I went and saw the Ron Mueck exibition at the Aberdeen Art Gallery on Friday. He's a hyperealist sculpture. A few folk had mentioned the exhibition to me a few weeks ago - "He's sculpted a twelve foot new born baby which actually gave me a fright.....". I went and saw it and it was all pretty astonishing. The exhibitions touring round Scotland http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/ar_tour/4:6690/6699.

I picked up my new pieces today from Glasstorm (http://www.glasstorm.com/) in Tain. Thanks Brodie, Tim, Eda, Ramon and Karen for your hard work. Pic's to follow tomorrow.

New Blog

My name is Conan Abel and this is the first post in my new blog. I'm a designer / maker based in Aberdeen Scotland. I make glass and wood vases and bowls, of which I've created my first collection which displayed in the Heinzel gallery in Aberdeen (http://www.galleryheinzel.com/). I'm planning on documenting the progress of my new glass and wood collections and will preview my work in this blog. Also if you wish to contact me about my work you will be able to do so through my blog.

These are some of the pieces that made up my first collection: