LEATHER | BRISTOL
Janine Partington works with leather to create intricate wall panels telling stories that are intended to create an emotional connection with the viewer.
Janine hand-carves leather with lino cutting tools, filling the marks she incises with acrylic paint. Every piece of leather is different, carves differently, takes colour differently, so for Janine it is always an adventure.
Janine started using leather as her base material whilst studying for an MA in Design at the University of the West of England in 2018. Since then she has exhibited two collections of works about her father exploring his Alzheimer’s, memory, and the concept of home, entitled Marking Time. The first collection was exhibited at Collect Open at the Saatchi Gallery in 2019, the second was shown at the Hub as part of the ‘Body and Mind: Seen and Unseen’ exhibition in 2020.
The collection that Janine has created for Design-Nation’s current exhibition is called Her Journey and for the first time explores the life of her mother. This proved both a challenging and cathartic experience, but Janine felt it was important to “redress the balance as I have previously concentrated on my father’s story leaving my mother on the side lines”. Read what Janine has written about the work here.