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Step back into the mind of the boy and explore Robots and Tall Trees – A Boy’s Eye View. Discover transforming treestumps, migrating Yeti’s and homemade robots walking the horizon amidst the striking landscapes, found backgrounds and sumptuous textures. There really is no end to the talents of Brighton-based artist Graham Carter.

Carter has produced technically exquisite original paintings, giclees, silkscreens and an army of handmade clay Yetis for his first solo show. His is a world of mystical tales and oriental folklore.

Graham Carter: Robots and Tall Trees – A Boy’s Eye View. Ink_D Gallery, North Road, Brighton, until 1 December.

Brighton Craft Fair 2007 The finest showcase for affordable craft in the South East

After last year’s inaugural event proved such a success, Brighton Craft Fair is back, and once again looks set to attract the capacity crowds and rave reviews for which it is becoming known. Set in the opulent surroundings of Brighton’s Corn Exchange, Brighton Craft Fair is an exciting showcase for the very best in affordable craft, design and applied art, and the highest quality event of its type in the South East.

Zoon vessels by Desiree Hope

From intricate stained glass windows to vibrant knitted textiles, this is a unique opportunity for new and experienced art buyers to meet and purchase work direct from the maker in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Pieces are priced between £20 and £1,500, and a full-service café is provided by Food Solutions Partnership, offering the perfect space where visitors can relax while they think over any purchases.

Ornamental silver dish by Rebecca Johnson

At this year’s event, around 100 makers will be exhibiting pieces from a variety of disciplines. These exhibitors have been carefully selected to ensure an exciting and diverse show featuring the best of contemporary craft and design, including:

• Victoria Kershaw: Functional tableware using silver and concrete, inlaid with delicate lace patterns
• Akiko Kingsbury: Vibrant and striking knitted accessories influenced by a range of styles and colours
• The Earring Café: Funky glass beads designed and made by a company of one, to be wearable and fun
• Corrina Rothwell: Monochrome machine-embroidered cartoons with dark humour and an ironic twist
• Hendel-Blackford Fine Furniture: Contemporary furniture and gifts made with a desire to create something extraordinary
• Kirsten Kinvara Wass: Modern, edgy jewellery re-presenting fine detailed Victorian pressed glass buttons

Bella shopper by Catherine Aitken

Organiser Jon Tutton said: “We have selected the best makers in the UK, across all disciplines. These makers are breathing new life into craft and design, taking both traditional and contemporary skills and processes, and letting their imaginations take the work far, far away from the usual. “What you will find at Brighton Craft Fair is well made, well designed, contemporary work, sometimes with a sense of fun but always with originality. You will be buying hand-made and original work direct from the maker.”

Tickets are available on the door at £5 per person (children under 14 go free). Entrance includes a detailed catalogue accompanying the show, with a comprehensive list of all exhibitors.

For more information visit www.brightoncraftfair.co.uk

Corn Exchange, Church Street, Brighton

Opening times:
Friday 23 November, 10am–7.30pm
Saturday 24 November 10am–6pm
Sunday 25 November 10am–5pm

Katie considers whether youthful excess may lead to middle-aged boredom

Call me old-fashioned, but I’ve always had a soft spot for rock stars who have mastered the fine art of growing old disgracefully.

Take Keith Richards for instance. He hasn’t had a coherent thought since 1974, has a habit of falling out of trees and probably believes he really is a pirate – but that doesn’t stop young pretenders like Russell Brand desperately trying to rip off the old goat’s trademark style.

Keef’s old mucker Marianne Faithful also has this ageing thing sussed. Through sheer chutzpah she’s strung out a career as a celebrity smackhead and Mars bar diddler well into her dotage. Now she’s shacked up with a lover half her age, shrugged off hepatitis C and plans to spend her final years playing court to bright young things begging to follow in her footsteps.

“He twitters on about how rural living is the new rock ‘n’ roll”

In the light of these shining examples it’s nothing short of tragic that the Britpop stars of yesteryear are having such difficulty adjusting to the ageing process. Just witness the ongoing deterioration of Alex James from Blur. Once the coolest man on God’s earth and a self-styled prince of Soho sneeze ‘n’ squeeze – these days he languishes as a celebrity cheese manufacturer with three kids called (God help them) Geronimo, Artemis and Galileo.

Maybe it’s just me (or latent lactose intolerance) but his obsession with dairy products is starting to become unnerving. You can’t open a magazine or switch on the TV without finding Alex twittering on about how cheese festivals are the new Glastonbury and rural living is the new rock ‘n’ roll. It’s all deathly boring and slightly smug.

However ironically he embraces the ‘big house in the country’ lifestyle that his band used to satirise there’s a growing feeling that he’s starting to royally lose the plot.

What’s really disconcerting is that whatever satanic pact he made during the Britpop days has now obviously been left to lapse. While Alex may describe himself as ‘the second drunkest member of Blur’ he was always by far the best looking. When Blur were young Alex had cheekbones that could lacerate girls’ hearts at a hundred paces and a floppy fringe that always seemed to point invitingly towards his crotch.

What I’m beginning to suspect is that during Blur’s heyday there was a portrait of Alex hanging in the attic, à la Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, that soaked up all the hard living while his body remained youthful. Unfortunately thanks to middle age and excessive cheese munching it’s the increasingly haggard picture that now stalks the country roads shooting pheasants and milking cows while his gorgeous alter ego is caught in that lonely loft, dreaming of nights at the Groucho and the possibility of a snog off Justine from Elastica.

Still, perhaps Alex’s fate should be a lesson to us all. To paraphrase William Blake, if the road of excess leads to a life of middle-aged cheese farming rather than the palace of wisdom, I might just choose to swap my triple vodkas for mineral water from here on out.

Sandra Omo shares her thoughts about life, love and living happily ever after

Have you ever heard the saying, ‘she is a model, man, you are not her type’? I bet we all have, and still do. If you have not before now, well, you have just read it so that puts you in the category of those who have heard it. This saying has become such a cliché that I just can’t help the urge to talk about it after the discussion I had with a fellow model yesterday. I sat next to her during a shoot for a video as she rattled on about her relationship and love in general. Boy, I have never had such a long discussion about relationships before. This was the only thing she talked about all through the shoot, and you cannot imagine how long it takes to do a video shoot. At the end of it all, she was very happy that I had actually listened to her without getting bored. Well, I knew I would get a column out of it.

“He actually tells her that all men fantasise about other men just as he does”

She is in love with this man who really has no idea about what he wants in life yet. Although he has a job, it’s not what you and I would call a job; he is not in any way cute, and much more older than she is; he hardly reciprocates her love, and still thinks he might be gay. He actually tells her that all men fantasise about other men just as he does. I am not a man but I do not think this is true in any way. Well if I am wrong, please guys let me know.

Before, yesterday, I have had discussions with uncountable people who believe that models are not out there for love, even if they are, then it is only with certain kind of people; the successful and extremely cute. It is true that as a model, there will always be an array of cute and successful people after you but this does not mean that they are our preference. I actually feel a lot of pity for guys when I hear them use the ‘she is a model, you are not her type’ phrase because this often means they are below the models’ type.

Is there any such thing as ‘the models’ type’? Well let us take Kate Moss for example. Would you call Pete Doherty ‘the models’ type’? I mean all the lists speak against him; he is not cute in any way, a drug user, Kate paid all the bills, and career wise, his is crap compared to hers. Most of you chaps would agree that you are better than this. Then why do you then think you are not the models’ type? It is not only the men who think this way as I have seen many women feel intimidated by male models because they think since he is a model, he only dates models.

Well, if any of the examples above is what ‘the models’ type’ is, then I should be ashamed to be a model. Fortunately, they are not and, and my point is that there is no such thing as ‘the models’ type’.

Firstly, models are human and as a result, our desires are based on human needs. Like most women, we just want to be in love, wake up to breakfast in bed, have a healthy family, and above all live happily ever after. But the loss of faith in these things often means that, unlike other women, we spend 99 per cent of our time pursuing our career rather than these things because the key to our career is ‘now’ so we cannot afford to put it aside, not that we are not interested in love. Therefore, the next time you have a genuine feeling towards one of my counterparts, feel free to show it without any timidity because guys, love lives here too.