Page 116 - Constructing Craft

thought of themselves as purely amateur. Ernst Plischke, was an architect who

designed furniture that was made by a furniture manufacturer. He was more likely to
have called himself a designer. A. R. D. Fairburn was a poet and art critic who

probably earned more from his printed fabrics than his poetry. Len Castle, the
potter, was a science teacher and Avis Higgs was a painter who made scarves to

bolster her income. While these exhibitors may have referred to themselves as
craftspeople they would have been unlikely to apply the title ‘amateur’ or

‘professional’ as a prefix. Furthermore, there were very limited opportunities in New

Zealand for craftspeople to earn their living solely from craft. As a reviewer of an
exhibition at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in 1950 that included crafts

noted, the two New Zealand potters exhibiting, both of whom had been trained in
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Britain could not contemplate returning to New Zealand to pursue their craft.
Their work was admired and it was purchased. They loved
being home, and with any prospect of being able to carry on
their work they would probably have been glad to remain here.
We can only hope that they will eventually return, but we must
realise that the greater their further success overseas the less
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our chance of getting them back.

Ernst Plischke. Photo: Werkbundsiedlung Wien.

Constructing Craft