Cabana Magazine N5

Discover the creative revival of a storied decorative technique in Stoke-on-Trent: behind Balineum’s tiles is a story of intuition, persistence, and passion. In 2007, after struggling to find beautifully made products for her bathroom, Sarah Watson started her own company, drawing inspiration for its name from the Latin word for bathhouse. She later acquired Phoenix Tile Studio in Stoke-on-Trent, one of only three remaining tile factories in the city.

English designer and metal-artist Jess Wheeler creates poetic botanical lighting and decorative objects from her studio beneath an Iron Age fort in West Dorset. Working in brass, bronze, and plaster, her pieces mirror the raw beauty of the natural world, combining fine art, sculpture, and interiors with a timeless, handcrafted spirit. This May, she'll be bringing her Dorset studio to the And Objects showroom to share her artisanal process as part of London Craft Week 2025.

A master of the ethereal and ephemeral, Su Blackwell conjures intricate worlds from the pages of old books, transforming paper into delicate three-dimensional dioramas that feel plucked from a dream. Working from her studio in the UK, Su’s poetic sculptures explore themes of memory, fragility, and storytelling, drawing deeply from fairy tales and folklore.

Paola Napoleone’s lamps often end up decorating the most elegant homes in Italy, and it is to her that decorators turn to when they want something truly special. Her creations stand out not only for their sculptural and unexpected shapes or thoughtfully paired colors, but also for the deep reflection behind each piece, turning artisanal path into a true philosophy.

In Medellín, weaver Norbey Gómez has mastered the technique of intertwining vegetal fibres. He specializes in yaré, a plant that grows on trees and is extracted by indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon. After more than twenty years of weaving, Norbey’s work highlights the creative possibilities of natural materials.

Founded in 1617 in Northampton, a town with an almost thousand-year tradition of British shoemaking, Church’s stands as a symbol of heritage craftsmanship and quintessentially English elegance. Known for its meticulous production process — a pair of shoes typically undergoes over 270 steps — the brand blends tradition with innovation, from introducing the first right and left shoes in the 1880s to preserving Victorian techniques today. With roots in a centuries-old family business and an impressive reputation, Church’s continues to craft footwear that reflects both refined English style and an unwavering commitment to artisanal merit.

Ostensibly, Ben Bloomstein and Aaron Aujla run Green River Project, their furniture and design practice, and Emily Adams Bode Aujla runs Bode, her fashion brand. However, the three are friends, partners (Emily and Aaron are married), and symbiotic creative collaborators. Their output is fueled by constant conversation and hours of research. They share a reverence for materiality, the preservation of craft, a love of historical narratives, a fascination with domestic spaces, and a belief in the importance of research. Deborah Needleman sits down with the three creatives ahead of Cabana's Speak, Memory Salone 2025 exhibition.

Korean-born and based leather artisan, Dahyeon Yoo, values the preservation of traditional Korean crafts, and sees the wear of time on natural materials as a mark of beauty rather than imperfection. Her artisanal name, Debaroun, is a compound of the Korean words DEBA, meaning 'following the sense of the hand', and ROUN, meaning '-like' – a philosophy that guides her practice.

Sophie Coryndon is a British artist whose intricate wall reliefs, objects, and drawings fuse historical ornament with contemporary craftsmanship. Rooted in a deep fascination for nature, myth, and the decorative arts, her work reimagines gilded manuscripts, medieval altarpieces, and cabinets of curiosity. Trained in an array of specialist techniques – from gilding and sculpting to lost wax casting – Coryndon’s pieces evoke wonder and a sense of the sublime, and have been exhibited at TEFAF, PAD, and Design Miami/Basel.

Sophie Wilson’s idyllic home in the Dorset countryside doubles as the creative sanctuary for her '1690' clay workshop, where she crafts her  authentic – and so wonderfully hand-made – sgraffito pottery. Adorned with nature's motifs, folklore, mythical beings and woodland creatures, her ceramics, which she fondly refers to as "impressionist ceramic sketches," evoke the spirit of traditional slipware of a time long past. 

L.A. born Peter Schlesinger has long defied categorisation: a painter who never quite felt at ease with painting, a photographer who never claimed the title, and a ceramicist whose internationally celebrated sculptures – three decades in the making – found recognition only over time despite insisting; “I don’t consider myself a craftsperson”. Yet across every discipline, his work remains strikingly original and deeply resonant. Today, Schlesinger is represented by Sperone Westwater in New York and Tristan Hoare in London.

James Cherry grew up with an intrinsic drive to 'create'. Today, the American artist's practice revolves around material experimentation, transforming elements into intimate, tactile forms that blur the line between function and art. His lighting pieces exist as both sculptural statements and immersive spatial experiences, shaping how we perceive light, material, and form.