Royal College of Art (RCA) students from the School of Applied Arts have created a selection of products for the historic house Waddesdon Manor.

All the students paid a visit late last year to the Manor in Buckinghamshire on a project to create a product that in some way drew inspiration from the objects displayed and/or the house itself. Around 40 students submitted their prototype designs and a panel of judges from the RCA and Waddesdon chose the 16 to be produced and sold in the Waddesdon shop and online store.

Jasleen Kaur, on the Silversmithing, Metalwork & Jewellery MA course, noticed how the Manor, although perceived on one level as ‘very English’, is filled with objects and decorations from around the world. Drawing on her own Scottish-Indian background, Jasleen has created the High Tea or Chai Tea? glasses that blend Indian and UK tea-drinking customs. Traditional chai glasses, sourced from Jasleen’s local Sheik temple in Glasgow (the temple were given new glasses in return) are customised with a vintage tea-cup handle and tea saucer, gleaned from London antique markets.

Hanne Enemark, from the RCA’s Ceramics & Glass MA course, took her inspiration from the rather stiff and formal portraits painted by Gainsborough and Reynolds that hang in the Manor. Freeing the portraits from their frames, the silhouettes are reworked in gold onto clear glass tumblers with a catchy title – Gainsborough and Reynolds portraits meet for a drink.

Also from the Ceramics & Glass MA, Sun Ae Kim was struck by the story of the sad theft of 100 gold boxes from the Manor. Wanting to find a way to replace these boxes, Sun designed her own tiny bone china boxes, decorating them with her line ‘drawings’ of scenes from the ‘drawing rooms’, giving the boxes names Red Drawing Room and Grey Drawing Room.

Framed for Waddesdon is a birch plywood laser-cut and engraved self-assembly letter-tidy designed by Rachael Colley, from the RCA’s Silversmithing, Metalwork & Jewellery MA course. Rachael took her inspiration from the small ornate picture frames clustered on walls, showing the less formal family life of the Manor, which visitors could easily relate to.

Surprise and Delight are the names of the series of black and white drawings created by Ceramics & Glass MA student Amy Hughes. Amy drew scenes from around the Manor and combined them with a background of teal blue and fresh green to create elegant linen tea towels and china mugs.

Available now, these pieces are ideal gifts for the upcoming festive period.

Royal College of Art
Waddesdon Manor
jasleen.kaur.1@hotmail.com
Hanne Enemark
Sun Ae Kim
Rachael Colley
Amy Hughes

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