“Compare the number of ideas a person is exposed to each day with the number he might have been asked to consider, say, just seventy-five years ago. Inventions like the telephone, television, radio, tickertape, photocopier, fax machine, modem, internet, cable TV, video teleconferencing… and the World Wide Web all function to increase the number of ideas and number of people with whose thoughts we come into contact.”
Douglas Rushkoff, Children of Chaos, 1996
We like ideas…
Material gallery and bookshop began life in 2007.
Created to represent the work of designers and artists from a myriad of visual disciplines, Material promotes limited edition prints and beautifully conceived products. Due to the nature of print, much of the work is affordable and, in turn, accessible to a wider demographic, stripping away any false pretenses that may have once been associated with the gallery concept. With a desire to share ideas and provide a source of discussion and inspiration by way of carefully selected complimentary publications, we also pride ourselves on being one of a growing number of establishments who, in light of the burgeoning digital age, champion the importance of the book in it’s printed form for fear of it’s inherent demise.
Material Ludlow (click me)
131 Corve Street / Ludlow / SY8 2PG
Material began in 2007 in the market town of Ludlow. Not the obvious choice for a location to start such an enterprise, but it’s creators Lucy & Joe believed that with such a wealth of inspired ideas and conceptions in an ever changing world of visual culture throughout the UK alone they felt impelled to bring Material to the area in which they grew up. It is our first enterprise and it’s still standing.
Material @ Red Gallery, London (click me)
3 Rivington Street / London / EC2A 3DT
And so… to London where a short lived collaboration with LE GUN took Material to the hub of Shoreditch where they curated the print and bookshop of Close Eyes to Exit an exhibition and LE GUN #5 launch which took place at the Red Gallery.
Due to the success of the exhibition, great relationships were formed and the Red Gallery invited Material to stay and thus came the amalgamation of the two entities in which Material takes the reigns in curating a retail avenue within the visual arts space for the rest of 2011.
Launched in London at the end of June, Material @ Red Gallery serves predominantly as a retail environment within an existing gallery space where we showcase and merchandise new and exciting artists and designers of all disciplines whilst strategically accommodating the wealth of exhibitions and events presented by the Gallery that houses us.