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.
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Part 5: The F!NK Water Jug<br />
An exciting opportunity with long-reaching<br />
consequences came in 1993 when <strong>Robert</strong><br />
<strong>Foster</strong> was commissioned to make a<br />
limited edition water jug for the opening of<br />
the Republic, a new Canberra restaurant.<br />
Initially hand-formed using a simple press<br />
that he made himself, the F!NK Water Jug<br />
became the first product of what was to<br />
become his limited-run manufacturing<br />
company F!NK+Co. from 1994. The jug<br />
remains a signature piece for the company<br />
and, in different anodised matt colours<br />
as well as a silver satin finish, is sold to<br />
enthusiastic clients around the world.<br />
Similarly, as he experimented further with<br />
different forming processes and carried<br />
out his own anodising, others of <strong>Robert</strong>’s<br />
hand-made pieces were to serve as<br />
prototypes for production by employees<br />
in F!NK+Co. These include beakers, trays,<br />
bowls, items of jewellery and components<br />
for lighting and other commissioned<br />
works.<br />
<strong>Robert</strong> also provided well-remembered<br />
collaborative opportunities for many<br />
young designers to work on the F!NK<br />
range.<br />
It encapsulates the qualities of F!NK+Co.<br />
that have distinguished it since it was<br />
established in 1994: distinctive design,<br />
rethinking function and technical<br />
innovation. (Merryn Gates) 1<br />
Rohan Nicol explains that for the first<br />
edition in 1993: ‘there were several<br />
pressings with different moulds: one for<br />
the flared base, one for the beak and one<br />
for the shoulder’. <strong>Robert</strong> then introduced<br />
a more sophisticated press, where only<br />
one pressing was necessary, before final<br />
hand-finishing.<br />
1. Merryn Gates, ‘<strong>Foster</strong>ing Design: Drawing On a<br />
Pool of Raw Talent’, Object Magazine, Issue 49,<br />
2006<br />
Page 24: <strong>Luminary</strong> exhibition, 2016. Photo:<br />
Madeline McGuigan<br />
25
Change language