Mani Kambo x Harewood House
The Artist: Mani Kambo
You can find Mani Kambo at her homebase in Newcastle upon Tyne, but you can also find her latest commission on the walls of Harewood House.
As a multidisciplinary artist with a strong focus on symbols and storytelling, Mani’s work is influenced by her upbringing in a household filled with superstition, prayer and religious ceremony. The main methods through which she chooses to interpret her art - textile, fabric dying and printmaking - are rooted in her family history and the core of her working practice. Before starting any design, Mani first begins by breaking it down into the everyday objects and symbols that weave and collage together into a narrative, capturing the very essence of the story and history behind her subject.
For Harewood’s third major craft Biennial in 2024, Create/Elevate, Mani produced a bespoke wallpaper that was based upon her own research into honouring the human touch present in the marks, carvings and designs found in the historic collections and crafted decorative interiors at Harewood House.
Photo: Drew Forsyth courtesy Harewood House Trust
The House
Found in the heart of Yorkshire, less than 9 miles from Leeds, this grand 18th Century property has one of the finest art collections in Britain. So it’s no wonder to learn that it's included in the Treasure Houses of England.
Harewood has a complex history, beginning when Henry Lascelles bought the land in 1738 with money that he had made from the West Indian sugar trade. It was a business that made him one of the richest men in England at the time, but also one that saw him involved in the Transatlantic trade in enslaved people. It would be his eldest son, Edwin, who used the profits from this terrible trade to build Harewood House - his father dying by suicide in 1753 and not living to see its completion.
This past is not something that Harewood has ever shied away from, instead, they have made it their mission to become more than just a stately home and stand tall as a cultural institution. Run by an educational charity, Harewood, its house, gardens, and grounds are all open for public benefit - historic documents from their archive have been deposited for academic study as part of their work in opening up communication and education around diversity - and through their contribution to the arts, they create powerful opportunities for reflection, connection and debate.
“I believe very strongly that we can change things in the present, but for better or for worse there is nothing that any of us can do about history and the past.” David Lascelles, Earl of Harewood.
Create/Elevate:
Just one of Harewood’s artistic contributions is Create/Elevate, their third major craft Biennial in 2024 which focuses on the use of craft for cross-generational knowledge sharing, and shows how artists and makers work collectively to affect societal change and promote social equity. Drawing upon the centuries of craft artistry embedded within the interiors of Harewood House, the work of 16 British and international artists, designers and craft collectives, including four major new commissions, are presented across the house, its landscape and gardens in one huge celebration of the power of craft to surprise, inspire and bring people together to imagine new worlds.
Create/Elevate was generously supported by Arts Council England, British Council, and the Henry Moore Foundation.
Exhibiting artists, makers and collectives:
Arabeschi di Latte, BEIT Collective with Hamza Mekdad, Botanique Studios, Britto Arts Trust, Rebecca Chesney, Emefa Cole, Common Threads, Jakup Ferri, Rosa Harradine, Jan Hendzel, Mani Kambo, Hew Locke, Kusheda Mensah, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Lucia Pizzani and Xanthe Somers.
Curated by Ligaya Salazar and Darren Pih.
The Inspiration
Named ‘Layered Legacies’ this wallpaper is a portal, mapping craft artistry through the centuries. A constellation of the visual motifs and styles found within Harewood’s vast collections, you only have to look closer into this contemporary map of craftsmanship to unlock some of the stories of the historic crafts and craftspeople embedded into the decorative interiors and collections of Harewood House.
For example, the floral and landscape motifs seen within the pattern are an important reminder of the large collection of ceramics possessed by Harewood House. Drawing from the work of David Ohannessian, an important Armenian ceramicist whose determination and resilience against deportation, persecution and genocide enabled an Armenian ceramics craft tradition to survive and flourish.
The theme of cyclic human movement and creativity references the infinite decorative loops in the design of Robert Adam’s plaster ceilings, arguably one of the most important British architects of the Neoclassical movement. Harewood House is a fine example of Adam’s iconic interiors, where all elements are encompassed in one stylistic union, from the ceilings, walls, floors, furniture, silver and even the ceramics.
Then there’s the fret lattice motif that honours the anonymous artisan skills that created the hand-painted 18th century Chinese wallpaper, a true piece of history, and possibly one of the finest preserved examples of 18th Century Chinese Wallpaper in Britain. It was originally commissioned for Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron of Harewood, and hung in 1769, but not in the room that you find it today, its appearance here is the result of careful conservation and the appreciation of his later descendants who rediscovered it - discarded in an outbuilding.
And finally, there’s a touch of the ancients. With the urn and palmette motifs present found across Harewood’s collections and derived from the visual language of Ancient Egypt, and the 6 alternate-coloured rings which reference Greystone’s cup and ring markings - a prehistoric rock and one of the oldest features of Harewood’s landscape, whose ancient carvings today remain an enigma.
The Wallpaper
An Armenian ceramicist, a Georgian architect and designer, the anonymous artisans of 18th Century China, the visual language of Ancient Egypt and prehistoric rock art. The complex cocktail of history found here in the symbols and motifs of Harewood House - all united into ‘Layered Legacies’- and for us here at Bruce Fine Papers this was a truly special project to be involved in.
Working closely with Mani on the translation of her ideas and design into block printed reality, and using the traditional craft of hand block printed wallpaper to produce this new commission celebrating the historic crafts already within Harewood, added an important layer and provenance to the project - showcasing the thought and care that goes into every element of Mani’s creations, even down to the production method itself.
But most of all, as a group of creatives, being able to bring this project to life was magical within the workshop. A chance to work on a one-off and unique design that sees our heritage craft meet modern contemporary art, a nod to our past, and to the importance of honouring and continuing these techniques into the future.
