Credits, Somerset House Trust

This unique exhibition centres on the power of narrative, imagination and storytelling within design.
30 contemporary Designers, Makers and Artists have been invited to become the new 21st century fellows of
the society, and create or contribute objects to this remarkable collection.
The new fellows’ designs will present ordinary objects with extra ordinary stories.

Credits, Richard Slee

Clogs for ladies and Lady-Killers,
Ineke Hans

My grandmother walked around in the traditional costume of her local area. A proud farmer’s wife in black but practical long dresses and flower-decorated-aprons that allowed her to work on the fields and milk the cows. On Sunday there would be a white lace cap, but all week there would be clogs. On Saturdays all clogs in the family would be cleaned and scrubbed with sand to make them as white as possible for Sundays. The ladies’ clogs however were slightly different from what most people recognise as a traditional dutch clog: They had leather straps over the foot, making the clogs a bit more convenient when working in the fields on your knees to get potatoes out of the soil. So far about my grandmother on ladies clogs, because not all women on clogs behave like ladies, such as another clogged character in the family which was my great grandmother that I‘ve never known.
When she had grown old she was ‘childish‘. Nowadays, we would say she had Alzheimer disease. On one hot summer the heat was unbearable and everyone on the farm — man and animal. My great grandmother felt pitiful for a goat who was standing in the unbearable hot sun and bleated loud. She thought to give it some comfort by pouring a bucket of cold water over it. The goat died instantly from a heart attack.

Credits, Carl Clerkin

My tasks as a Curatorial Assistant included

Credits, Hans Stofer

This unique exhibition centres on the power
of narrative, imagination and storytelling within design.
30 contemporary Designers, Makers and Artists have been invited to become the new 21st century fellows of the society, and create or contribute objects to this remarkable collection.

The new fellows’ designs will present ordinary objects with extra ordinary stories.

Clogs for ladies and Lady-Killers,
Ineke Hans

Suspend your disbelief and enter the world of ‘The Learned Society of Extra Ordinary Objects’ an exhibition revealing the extra-ordinary possibilities of everyday objects. This exhibition mirrors that same sense,
by placing the Designers’ fantastical objects within the story and setting of a learned society, will explore different ways of engaging with commonplace objects.

Credits, Somerset House Trust

Credits, Richard Slee

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