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Luminary: Remembering Robert Foster

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.

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.

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