Helen Carnac and David Gates

17 January - 10 March 2003

Two of the leading names in British contemporary applied arts come together in a unique exhibition…

This January, two of the best-known names in British contemporary applied arts will come together in a collaborative project at Flow gallery, Notting Hill. Having been asked to create a one-off piece for a group show at London's Applied Arts Agency last year, furniture designer David Gates and metalsmith Helen Carnac have been invited to take the combined arts process one step further in the form of this full-scale exhibition.

Taking inspiration from the likes of the English Cotswold School, Japanese woodworking and European modernism, David Gates's exquisitely crafted tables and chairs have acquired a strong following among interior designers, collectors and independent clients alike. Working primarily in oak, ash and maple, the highly-skilled methods of traditional cabinet-making are pivotal to his simple, handsome designs, and recent commissions include the design and construction of a boardroom table and seating for the School of the Built Environment at Westminster University.

Having trained under the auspices of design-supremo Tom Dixon, and with a clutch of design awards to her name, Helen Carnac's sculptural, organically influenced designs in copper, silver and steel, have been exhibited in galleries throughout the world. Her trademark, long-stemmed oil-burning lamps, with their emphasis on slight movement, meanwhile, are a perfect example of the designer's talent for fusing form and function in a beautifully subtle way.

Despite the differences in each working process, Gates and Carnac have come to recognise a certain empathy between their respective mediums, and it is this premise that has provided the main inspiration for the Flow exhibition. The show will present a range of individual and collaborative pieces, but the focal point will undoubtedly be Gates's magnificent walnut dining table, fittingly adorned with Carnac's elegant silver cutlery.