Page 231 - Constructing Craft

Craft and the Architect: Ron Sang

The collecting of craft, in a similar fashion to the collecting of art, became a feature

of the new moneyed society in the early 1990s. Although crafts were still seen as
less of an investment than paintings and sculpture, some collectors began to

influence the way that craft was incorporated into commercial buildings. One
collector of craft in Auckland was the architect Ron Sang of the architectural firm

Fairhead Sang Carnachan based in Newmarket. He began collecting pottery in the

1970s and slowly began incorporating individual pieces and, increasingly,
collections of pottery in the designs of houses and commercial buildings he was

working on. He also purchased pottery as gifts for clients, both in New Zealand and

overseas and occasionally commissioned work. In the buildings he designed he
used very simple materials and suggested that to remove the craft he incorporated
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in the design would make his designs look “bland, unfinished”. Collectors have
always existed of course, but the notable feature of Sang’s collection was its size

and the way he infiltrated the pieces into the business-world environment. Sang
would probably have disagreed with Clegg’s assertion that craft had to be

specifically designed for a building but he grouped his work in such a way that they

took on the appearance of an individual sculpture. The difference, when compared
to the murals discussed above, was that craftspeople could produce whatever they

wished – although larger works appeared to be more favoured.

Some of Ron Sang's collection of ceramics. Photo: Howard Williams.

Constructing Craft