Luminary: Remembering Robert Foster

INVITATION
LUMINARY
REMEMBERING ROBERT FOSTER

LUMINARY
REMEMBERING ROBERT FOSTER
Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre is supported by the ACT
Government, the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy – an initiative
of the Australian State and Territory Governments, and the
Australia Council for the Arts – the Australian Government’s arts
funding and advisory body.
CRAFT ACT CRAFT + DESIGN CENTRE
Tues–Fri 10am–5pm
Saturdays 12–4pm
Level 1, North Building, 180 London Circuit,
Canberra ACT Australia
+61 2 6262 9333
www.craftact.org.au
FINK & FRIENDS
POP UP EXHIBITION | PAGE 37
Cover: Luminary exhibition poster, designed by Lou Scrivener,
photography by DMC Photography
Page 4: Luminary exhibition, 2016. Photo: Edgelight Photography
Craft ACT Craft + Design Centre
31 October - 25 November 2016
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Craft ACT remembers Robert Foster
It was with the deepest regret and
profound sadness that we learned of the
passing of our friend Robert Foster in July
2016.
Robbie was an iconic designer and
silversmith, and a mentor, collaborator,
leader, supporter, inspiration, and teacher;
but he was also a true friend to so many
people in both our professional and
personal communities here in Canberra.
Robert had been a Craft ACT Accredited
Professional Member since 1993.
We were devastated that such a great
man and talent was taken from us too
early. We gained some comfort from the
knowledge that his legacy would endure.
Robbie’s contribution is great, both near
and far. There is a Robert Foster F!NK
jug in practically every second house in
Canberra, yet his reach is international
with sales in New York, London, Germany
and beyond. He is revered and admired for
his sculptural installations and exhibitions,
and his work is held in major Australian
and international collections.
At Craft ACT, we wanted to celebrate
Robert’s extraordinary contribution to
contemporary craft and design, and
our community. In our Civic gallery,
we presented F!NK & Friends, which
responded quickly and personally to the
designer’s tragic passing. The F!NK &
Co family, former associates of Robert
through his design practice, were invited
to contribute an item that, for them,
captured the spirit of Robert’s practice.
Geoffrey Cossick, Chair of the UK Crafts
Council, visited the exhibition and wrote
in response, ‘it is when craft, making and
memory come together that the power of
an object can become so compelling’.
As the centrepiece of the 2016 DESIGN
Canberra festival, I commissioned
Luminary: Remembering Robert Foster,
curated by Grace Cochrane. It was
the most visible and celebrated of the
exhibitions in DESIGN Canberra for that
year, and became the venue for the festival
opening event and a number of artist talks.
A celebration of the life and achievements
of a local design icon, the exhibition
encompassed Robert’s work, both from
F!NK and from his personal collection. The
exhibition was set among The Journey,
his spectacular installation of ‘ossolites’
in the headquarters of ActewAGL, which
supported the exhibition together with
Vince Frost. As well as the 49 pieces
handmade by Robert from 1987 to 2016,
the exhibition included 50 F!NK jugs that
were loaned to the exhibition by members
of the community.
Robert’s legacy endures. F!NK, now
spearheaded by his partner Gretel
Harrison, remains a leader in our city’s
art, craft and design landscape. F!NK was
made a lifetime member of Craft ACT in
2018, in recognition of their extraordinary
support of the organisation and our
community.
I am delighted that as part of Craft
ACT’s 50th anniversary, we are able to
retrospectively produce this beautiful
catalogue to record the two exhibitions
curated in Robert’s honour in 2016.
Rachael Coghlan
CEO + Artistic Director
Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre
April 2021
Page 6: Luminary exhibition poster, designed by
Lou Scrivener, photography by DMC Photography
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Luminary: Remembering Robert Foster
Exhibition essay: Grace Cochrane, curator
Part 1: Introduction
Friends and colleagues from the ACT,
across Australia and around the world, join
Robert Foster’s family in remembering the
extraordinary contribution this wonderful
man made to our lives. Following the
tragic accident that took his life on 13 July
in 2016, Craft ACT offers a celebration,
with affection and admiration, of his
continuing influence as a luminary
example, in every way.
An imaginative and resourceful designer
and maker working with metals and
related materials, ‘Robbie’ (1962–2016)
became well-known from the mid-1980s
for his expressive and yet functional and
exceptionally crafted hand-made forms,
as well as for the innovative designs he
developed for production through his
company F!NK + Co, founded in 1994 and
now operating in Queanbeyan. His many
commissions include The Journey, a
spectacular group of ‘ossolites’ installed
in the foyer of ActewAGL headquarters,
Canberra city, in 2010.
Supported since 1997 by his enterprising
partner, Gretel Harrison, and enthused by
his daughters, Ineska and Mischa, Robert
constantly experimented with ideas for
new forms and processes. He believed
strongly in the value of working between
art and manufacture, fun and function,
materials and processes, expression and
sustainability.
Luminary: Remembering Robert Foster
is significant in that, apart from the now
iconic F!NK Water Jugs,every work has
been hand-made by Robert himself, as a
one-off item or prototype for production.
Craft ACT is especially grateful for the
loan of all these unique works from the
personal collection of his family.
Robert also encouraged many emerging
makers to work with him, and some
evolved designs that were produced
through the F!NK brand and identified
with their names. They, and many others,
acknowledge the importance of his
generous mentorship in the development
of their careers.
Page 8: Luminary exhibition, 2016. Photo:
Edgelight Photography
Page 10-11: Robert Foster created sculptural light
forms called ossolites for the ActewAGL foyer in
Canberra. Photo: Eddison Photographic Studio
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Part 2: Robert Foster: designing and
making
I don’t draw an ideological line between my
one-off works and F!NK …I have learned
to see them as notions of operation, that
dwell on a sliding scale between objects
only made possible via hand-making,
through to the objects only made possible
by manufacturing technology. (Robert
Foster, 2005)1
Robert Foster’s designs have been
described as imaginative interfaces
between organic and geometric,
expression and utility, personal and social.
Influenced as a child in rural Victoria by
his artistic and yet practical parents, and
by teachers from Scandinavia and Europe
at the Canberra School of Art (now ANU
School of Art) in the 1980s, he soon
developed a distinctive aesthetic.
A resourceful experimenter, he soon
became adept at working with aluminium
tubes, reshaping them by also using
processes including press-moulding,
hydro-forming, thermo-forming and even
explosives.
Throughout, Robert was interested in
polishing, powder-coating and, especially,
anodising the metal surfaces, while
incorporating materials such as rubber,
acrylic and even snooker balls when the
subject called for them. As well as the
forging and pressing equipment that he
installed in his workshop, he eventually
established his own anodising unit to
maintain oversight of the whole process of
production
He was also to extend his interest in
vessel-making to designing furniture,
lighting and jewellery.
Central to his work in hollow-ware was a
valuing of hand-made processes, such as
the hammering required to hand-raise and
form sheets of silver, stainless steel and
aluminium into the shapes he sought.
1. Robert Foster, in Vast Terrain: Design and
Aluminium, FORM Gallery, Perth, 2005
Page 12 + 14-15: Luminary exhibition, 2016.
Photo: Madeline McGuigan
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Part 3: Teapots, coffeepots, jugs and
jars
The process of making results not so
much from a deliberate state of mind but
more from the result of serendipity … The
predominant driving force whilst making
is to discover an object that expresses a
story, an emotion, or a sense of meaning.
(Robert Foster, 1997)1
Robert Foster valued the personal
satisfaction of making individual pieces
that could be regarded as the expressive
edge of his wide spectrum of practice.
His interests included responding to
everyday activities such as drinking tea
and coffee, and the way such habits bring
people together, as well as the need for
containers to hold items of value.
From the outset he consistently made
unique hand-formed teapots that he saw
as personal artwork and which did not
go into production. Working around the
necessary components of containers,
lids, spouts and handles in new visual
and functional relationships, he often
integrated imaginative metaphorical
references to creatures such as scorpions,
raccoons, turtles and stingrays, as well
as characters from the Dr Seuss books
belonging to his daughters.
He liked to be free of prescriptive
design conventions, and valued a
playful approach to serious creative
experimentation: the form of Bye Bye
Brontosaurus, for example, refers to
dinosaur eggs. Jugs and other containers
such as vessels and vases were also
among Robert’s continuing passions.
Some were designed to be easily lifted
without a handle; on others the handle
contributes to the overall design profile as
well as being a functional component.
Vessels might be hand-raised or formed,
or press-forged under hydraulic pressure.
For some, the starting point could be a
tube, rather than a sheet of metal, while
to put some of his hand-made prototypes
into production, he introduced more
complex technologies, including pressforming,
water-forming and thermoforming.
1. Robert Foster, in Rhana Devenport,
Contemporary Vessels and Jewellery, QAG, 1997
Page 16 + 18-19: Luminary exhibition, 2016.
Photo: Madeline McGuigan
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Part 4: Presenting, containing, wearing
As the shape of the metal changes, I begin
to see the choices and possibilities of how
to manipulate the material next. In a way
it is like drawing with the hammer. (Robert
Foster, 1997)1
Platters and trays
Reflecting his interest in the natural world,
Robert Foster’s sculptural ideas also took
form in a number of trays, some of which
resemble waves or glaciers —evoking
images of curling and rippling, slipping and
sliding. For these he used a press-forging
process as well as hand-finishing, to make
both the forms and the patterns in their
surfaces.
much to be used as carriers for personal
possessions.
In the 2000s, following the release of
iPod pocket computers, Robert made a
series of Hipod carrying containers in the
familiar shape of a computer mouse, to be
worn on a belt or slipped into a pocket. As
always, he innovatively combined function
with metaphorical meaning.
Handbags and Hipods
Many of Robert’s designs made reference
to the form of the body, acknowledging
perhaps, that vessels are often described
as having bellies, feet, waists, necks and
shoulders.
It may not be surprising then, that beyond
vessels to be used on the table, he also
made innovative carrying containers.
While his Handbag teapots of 1995
presented a dual meaning and function,
later handbags and toolboxes were very
1. Robert Foster, in Rhana Devenport,
Contemporary Vessels and Jewellery, QAG, 1997
Page 20: DESIGN Canberra 2016, VIP opening.
Photo: Edgelight Photography
Page 22-23: Luminary exhibition, 2016. Photo:
Madeline McGuigan
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Part 5: The F!NK Water Jug
An exciting opportunity with long-reaching
consequences came in 1993 when Robert
Foster was commissioned to make a
limited edition water jug for the opening of
the Republic, a new Canberra restaurant.
Initially hand-formed using a simple press
that he made himself, the F!NK Water Jug
became the first product of what was to
become his limited-run manufacturing
company F!NK+Co. from 1994. The jug
remains a signature piece for the company
and, in different anodised matt colours
as well as a silver satin finish, is sold to
enthusiastic clients around the world.
Similarly, as he experimented further with
different forming processes and carried
out his own anodising, others of Robert’s
hand-made pieces were to serve as
prototypes for production by employees
in F!NK+Co. These include beakers, trays,
bowls, items of jewellery and components
for lighting and other commissioned
works.
Robert also provided well-remembered
collaborative opportunities for many
young designers to work on the F!NK
range.
It encapsulates the qualities of F!NK+Co.
that have distinguished it since it was
established in 1994: distinctive design,
rethinking function and technical
innovation. (Merryn Gates) 1
Rohan Nicol explains that for the first
edition in 1993: ‘there were several
pressings with different moulds: one for
the flared base, one for the beak and one
for the shoulder’. Robert then introduced
a more sophisticated press, where only
one pressing was necessary, before final
hand-finishing.
1. Merryn Gates, ‘Fostering Design: Drawing On a
Pool of Raw Talent’, Object Magazine, Issue 49,
2006
Page 24: Luminary exhibition, 2016. Photo:
Madeline McGuigan
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List of works
Teapots 1987-1991 Teapots 1991-1998 Teapots 2002-2010
Platters 2011
1 Mouse teapot, 1987-89
Aluminium, handraised and
powder-coated, anodised
aluminium handle, 13 x 20x
14
7 Snow teapot, 1992
Aluminium, handraised and
powder coated, anodised,
17 x 20 x 6
13 Stingray teapot, 2002
Aluminium, handraised and
anodised
18 Green Wake, 2011
Aluminium, press forged
and anodised
2 Baby Elly teapot, 1991
Aluminium, handraised,
epoxy coated and anodised,
22 x 25 x 6
8 Teapot, 1995
Aluminium, handraised and
anodised, 11 x 19 x 13
14 Scorpion teapot, 2004
Stainless steel, handformed
and anodised, with
perforated aluminium, 20 x
15.5 x 17.5
19 Blue Tsunami, 2011
Aluminium, press forged
and anodised
3 Pingko teapot, 1991
Aluminium, handraised and
powder coated, anodised
aluminium handle, snooker
ball, 19 x 19 x 8
9 Snout teapot, 1991
Aluminium, handraaised
and powder coated,
anodised aluminium, 20 x
19 x 13
15 Black Raider teapot,
2008, Aluminium,
hydroformed, fabricated
and anodised, acrylic, 18 x
20 x 22
4 Lovegun teapot, 1991
Stainless steel, handformed
and powder coated,
anodised aluminium, 16 x
22 x 15
10 Handbag teapot, 1995
Stainless steel, handformed,
with anodised aluminium,
snooker ball, 20 x 25 x 4
16 Mr Giggles teapot, 2009
Aluminium, handraised and
anodised, 14 x 8 x 10
5 Teapot, 1991
Aluminium, handraised and
anodised, 16 x 36 (32)
11 Teapot, 1996
Steel, handformed and
blackened, with anodised
aluminium, 16 x 15 x 15
17 Amoeba teapot, 2010
Stainless steel, handformed,
with anodised aluminium,
acrylic, 16 x 22 x 15
6 Teapot, 1991
Aluminium, handraised and
powder coated, perforated
aluminium, 6 x 18 x 12
12 Teapot, 1998
Stainless steel,
handformed and blackened,
with anodised aluminium,
Delrin, 12 x 15 x 14
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List of works
Hanbags and Hipods
Coffee pots
Jugs and vase 1980s-90s
20 Boys Toolbox, 2004
Aluminium, hand formed
and anodised, acrylic, 18 x
12 x 9
26 Hipod, 2009
Stainless steel,
handformed, with anodised
aluminium, 6 x 19 x 10
28 Coffee pot, 1991
Aluminium, handformed and
anodised, 23 x 10 x 9
33 Whale jug, 1988
Aluminium, handraised and
anodised, granite
21 Girl’s Own Toolbox,
2004, Aluminium, hand
formed and anodised,
acrylic, 24 x 20 x 10
27 Hipod, 2009
Stainless steel,
handformed, with acrylic, 5
x 18 x 9
29 Coffee pot, 1998
Stainless steel, perforated
aluminium, handformed
25 x 18 x 8
34 Jug, 1988
Aluminium, handraised
and anodised, slate, 25 x
20 x 11
22 Blue Ether, handbag,
2001, Aluminium,
hydroformed and anodised,
with stainless steel handle,
plastic, rubber, 28 x 11 x 32
30 Swan coffee pot, 1999
Steel, handformed and
blackened, with perforated
aluminium, 28 x 17 x 5
35 Vase, 1988
Aluminium, handraised and
anodised, 25 x 16 x 9
23 Oyster Hipod, 2000
Stainless steel, handformed,
with rubber, neoprene
3 x 13 x 9
31 Coffeepot, prototype 1,
2010, Aluminium, handraised
and anodised, plastic,
24 x 12 x 8
36 Jug, 1991
Aluminium, handraised and
anodised, snooker ball, 26
x 9 x 8
24 Hipod, 2000
Aluminium, perforated,
handformed with stainless
steel, rubber, 4 x 16 x 8
32 Coffeepot, prototype
2, 2014, Stainless steel,
handformed, with anodised
aluminium, 28 x 18 x 12
37 Jug, 1991
Aluminium, handraised and
anodised, 21 x 17 x 9
25 Hipod, 2000
Stainless steel, handformed,
with rubber, neoprene
4 x 12 x 8
28 29

List of works
Vases and containers
Vases 2001 - 2010
F!NK Water Jugs
38 Trio of vessels, 1996
Steel, handformed and
blackened, anodised
aluminium, 24 x 11 x 6, 17 x
10 x 4, 12 x 10 x 5
42 Valkyrie vase, 2001
Stainless steel,
handformed, with anodised
aluminium, 40 x 28x 5
47 The F!NK Water
Jug, designed 1993, in
continuous production
since 1994. Press formed
aluminium, anodised,
powder-coated handle.
Approx. 30 x 18 x 10
39 Vases, 10, 12, 14, 1996
Aluminium tube, hand
hammered and anodised.
Prototypes for later F!NK
Explosive vases, 28 x 13 x 6;
29 x 13 x 6; 30 x 13 x 7
43 Edinburgh vase, 2008
Aluminium, press forged
and handformed, anodised,
37 x 14 x 14
40 Vessel, 2005
Aluminium, handformed and
anodised, sandblasted, 32 x
11 x 11
44 Pewter Expulsion vase,
2009, Aluminium, press
forged and handformed,
anodised, 40 x 20 x 20
41 Vessel, 2006
Aluminium tube,
handformed and anodised,
33 x 9 x 8
45 Bye Bye Stegosaurus,
vessel, 2010, Aluminium,
press forged and
handformed, anodised, 27
x 13 x 13
46 Bye bye, Brontosaurus,
2010, Aluminium, press
forged and handformed,
anodised, 18 x 11 x 11
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FiNK & Friends: Pop up exhibition
21 July - 3 September 2016
Craft ACT was honoured to host a popup
exhibition in the lightbox gallery of
personal items on loan from the F!NK + Co
extended family of Robbie Foster.
Thank you to all who shared memories
and tributes in the condolence book during
their visit and via email.
Descriptions of personal items on loan,
as told by the F!NK + Co. extended family
1. Dan Lorrimer
Taken out of deep storage, this
“hydroforming” tool was made with
Robbie for Dan’s Centenary of Canberra
production line of platters. As well as this
tool, Robbie helped Dan solve a range of
problems which meant that the platters
could be made – consistently and to a
high quality. Dan’s hammer symbolises
advice often given by Robbie: “You are
not a metal worker until you have made a
hammer.”
2. The F!NK + Co crew
Robbie always had a container of nuts in
the F!NK workshop for people to share.
This Squash Container contains his most
recent nut stash.
3. Sean Booth
This hammer was made during an
AustraliaCouncil Mentorship program
where Robbie mentored Sean, an early
career silversmith at the time. Sean was
preparing to set up his own studio so
Robbie encouraged him to make some
tools, including this hammer. The teapot
was a birthday gift from Robbie.
4. Janel Laza
Janel received this special heart from
Robbie when she was having a particularly
rough day. She was having relationship
issues, was home sick, and bummed
out. Robbie handed her the heart, gave
her the “biggest and most amazing
Robbie hug” and shared warm words of
encouragement. “He gave me some love in
hugs and metal form,” says Janel.
5. Darren Chong
Robbie gave Darren this shiny purple
jug as a gift after the first time they
successfully “bright-dipped” (polished and
coloured) a F!NK + Co jug.
Page 36: FiNK & Friends exhibition, 2016. Photo:
Craft ACT
Page 37: FiNK & Friends exhibition, 2016. Photo:
Craft ACT
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6. Gretel Harrison
Robbie and Gretel made three belts
together: one for Gretel; and one for each
of their fathers. These belts were made to
bond their families together.
7. Gretel Harrison
Robbie gave Gretel this perfume bottle
for their first Christmas together, 23 years
ago. The bangle was a gift from last
Christmas.
8. Louise Scrivener
Louise is Fink and Co.’s graphic designer
and this brooch is the result of a
collaboration between Robbie and Louise.
Together, they designed and made this
piece of jewellery for a pop-up typography
exhibition, based on the “F” from Fink.
9. Kim Berry
Robbie hand poured this silver ring which
was cast in a paper mould, floating on
water. Robbie invited Kim to watch the
process, but he hadn’t told her the ring
was going to be her birthday gift. Robbie
made the bangle for Kim as a parting gift
when she left her full-time position at
F!NK. Kim was pregnant at the time and at
first, she remembers, it was a very tight fit.
and fabrication skills. Every year, Robbie
and Gretel give a F!NK + Co. product of
choice to their staff. Bengt chose this
light which, at the time, was unassembled
with various parts located throughout the
F!NK workshop. Bengt remembers that
Robbie might have been mildly irritated
by his request, but Robbie found and gave
the various components of the light to
Bengt anyway. Bengt assembled the light
especially for this pop-up exhibition.
11. Alison Jackson
Robbie hosted forging parties out the back
of F!NK on special weekends. Silversmiths,
buddies and people who wanted to dig in
and have a go were all invited. Everyone
would come together to make pieces.
On one of these weekends Alison made
silversmithing hammers, and Alison
remembers Robbie’s encouragement
for her to keep pursuing the craft of
silversmithing.
12. Danilo Enders-Moje
The bandolier “utility belt” was one of
many objects lying around Robbie’s
workshop. During a workshop clean up,
the utility belt was going to be thrown
away. Danilo asked if he could keep the
belt, and of course Robbie obliged.
10. Bengt Cannon
Robbie’s artistic, making and design skills Page 40: FiNK & Friends exhibition, 2016. Photo:
have been supported over the years by
Craft ACT
Page 42-43: FiNK & Friends exhibition, 2016.
long-time employee Bengt’s production
Photo: Craft ACT
Page 44-45: FiNK & Friends exhibition, 2016.
Photo: Art Atelier Photography
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