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Garland magazine The stories behind what we make Garland is a platform that features thoughtful writing about objects.

The quarterly issue includes a long-form essay on a single object, as well as a focus on a city in the region, craft classics, workshops and an online exhibition. Garland includes work from around the world, but with a Pacific perspective, reflecting the dialogue of cultures in this region. The first issue was launched at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale, South Korea, and the second is launched as part of the Adelaide Biennial.

Bright moon over heavenly gateJacky Cheng talks about the epic evolution of her Paifang gate, from dyeing workshops in L...
16/09/2025

Bright moon over heavenly gate

Jacky Cheng talks about the epic evolution of her Paifang gate, from dyeing workshops in Laos to a mother-daughter collaboration in Broome.
https://garlandmag.com/article/heavenly-gate/

✿ Excerpts:

Jacky Cheng talks about the epic evolution of her Paifang gate, from dyeing workshops in Laos to a mother-daughter collaboration in Broome.

One of the biggest references to Chinese gates is the *paifang* archways. They are simply beautiful and symbolic structures, and also act as a marker or a threshold between what’s known and what’s unknown. For someone like me from a migrant background, that idea of being in between worlds really resonates.

I had invited my mum to visit me, and I related to her the stories I had learnt about the Laotian mothers and daughters working together.

I taught her how to make these natural dyed silk tassels. We made them together. It felt like I’d crossed another border, another gate, of getting to know my mother in a different, more personal aspect. It was initially meant to keep her occupied, but then I thought, “This is so beautiful”.

The next step was making long paper strips. There were 1110 strips altogether. The number is not significant, but I had a vision to realise a structure of a floating gate, and by the time I did the calculation, it was a beautiful round number. The Chinese characters written on it were a poem by Li Bai, about the moon. It’s a poem I grew up with that I could recite so precisely with its intonation, but I didn’t know how to read or write it. My mum made me recite the poem as a child every day before I left for school. I’ve recited it all my life until now, and I decided the poem is a true reflection of my being and had to be incorporated into that gate.

Li Bai “Quiet Night Thought” (靜夜思 – Jìng Yè Sī)

Before my bed, bright moonlight gleams,
I wonder if it’s frost on the ground.
Raising my head, I gaze at the bright moon,
Lowering my head, I think of home.

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Read more in G40 ✿ Heavens Above

Tamal Bhattacharya ✿ Headgear to help take a stand against trashArpita Bhattacharya describes the artistic evolution of ...
12/09/2025

Tamal Bhattacharya ✿ Headgear to help take a stand against trash

Arpita Bhattacharya describes the artistic evolution of Tamal Bhattacharya, whose work reflects a commitment to storytelling for a better world.
https://garlandmag.com/tamal-bhattacharya/


✿ Excerpts:

Tamal conceptualised these works entirely in his mind before creating them directly by hand, sewing and sticking effortlessly. His headgears demonstrate an experimental approach to art and have the ability to tell a story, reflecting personal and artistic experiences. He believes that art needs to connect with a wide audience. While individual interpretations may vary based on perception, it is crucial that his art is accessible to a diverse range of viewers.

When railway scouts walked the Howrah Platform in West Bengal, India, on March 22nd, many people became aware of both the devastating effects of plastic and the aesthetic possibilities of art. Viewers may feel comfortable experiencing these creations—the performers—and the plastics themselves.

Find out more in Garland Loop ✿

Callum Robinson ✿ IngrainedD Wood finds a book by a Scottish woodworker that powerfully evokes a well-crafted life.https...
11/09/2025

Callum Robinson ✿ Ingrained
D Wood finds a book by a Scottish woodworker that powerfully evokes a well-crafted life.
https://garlandmag.com/callum-robinson/robinson.writes

✿ Excerpts:

As I reread Ingrained, I wondered if my background as a woodworker accounted for my appreciating it so much. Certainly, knowing the sights, sounds, smells and feel of woodshops and timber yards meant that the book had resonance; and having spent time in rural settings where old Land Rovers, muddy tracks, and weather-beaten, hard-scrabble characters are the norm, my quotient of empathy was fully engaged.

Tāwhaki's journey to the realms of wisdom aboveXoë Hall reflects on her mural about Tāwhaki's journey to the celestial r...
10/09/2025

Tāwhaki's journey to the realms of wisdom above

Xoë Hall reflects on her mural about Tāwhaki's journey to the celestial realm and the knowledge he gains on the way.
https://garlandmag.com/article/tawhaki/

✿ Excerpts:

Realm 1
Tāwhaki meets Ruahinematamorari, who dwells at the base of the celestial realm and holds the keys to mātauraka and celestial knowledge. Tāwhaki restores her sight, and in return, Ruahinamatamorari opens her throat and releases a spider web upon which Tāwhaki begins to climb in his ascent to the heavens.

Realm 2
Amidst a profusion of challenges sent forth by te taiao (the natural environment) and exposed to the elements, our hero Tāwhaki holds on and grows stronger. He sees two wāhine (maidens) washing their hair—but they pay him no mind. He meets a tuna (eel) on his own quest to find fresh water and absorbs his mātauraka (knowledge and wisdom); he grows stronger again.

Realm 3
He happens upon the House of Bones, where the bones of his father Hema hang. Tāwhaki gathers together the threads of wisdom and celestial knowledge from his climb, he has gained and harnessed great power through his journeys and defeats his fathers enemies.

Realm 4
Under the watchful gaze of Rehua, Tāwhaki transcends the tribulations of mortality and shapeshifts into an Atua (celestial being) forevermore. This is the ultimate transformation for Tāwhaki, who now emanates wisdom from his puku (gut), his sight, voice, and hearing.

I grew up hearing many pūrākau from my dad, let’s call him Bush Rat Bill (Kai Tahu). He was also an artist and an amazing storyteller, and I was obsessed.

I wanted to tell their stories from a modern woman’s perspective, and reclaim spaces, like boring colonised grey and white walls on city streets, painting them larger than life like the Gods they are!

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Read more in G40 ✿ Heavens Above

Heavenly jewels to ascend KailashSurabhi Sahgal’s rings reflect mythical symbology embedded in Indian narratives of heav...
09/09/2025

Heavenly jewels to ascend Kailash

Surabhi Sahgal’s rings reflect mythical symbology embedded in Indian narratives of heavenly pursuits.
https://garlandmag.com/article/kailash/

✿ Excerpts:

Kailash stands for stillness and liberation beyond the churn.

Its icy summit touches Swarga or Heaven, and its subterranean crevices dig into Pataal (Hell); the mountain is considered the celestial axis connecting heaven and earth, a symbolic bridge between materiality and spirituality.

In their moments of helplessness (often credited to their adversary *Asuras*), the Devas would look further upwards through glittering galaxies, toward Vishnu in *Vaikuntha*. There, beyond the tumult, Vishnu lay in serene stillness on the coils of his serpent *Adi Shesha*, resting within a heavenly lotus.

*Swarga* is where every mortal wish comes true; *Vaikuntha* is where the need to wish disappears. This vertical cosmology mirrors how I’ve now come to think about my work: shaped by the push and pull of desire and detachment, where making something beautiful becomes a way of asking deeper questions, and where jewellery is both an object of desire and a reminder for release.

When lit, its wax tongues melt like dissolving ego, into the pot of ghee at its base, illuminating the inner lamp of knowing while unifying the identity with the source.

On Vishnu’s counsel, the *Devas* joined forces with the *Asuras* to churn *Ksheersagar*—the Ocean of Milk. Mount *Mandhar* became their churning axis, and Shiva’s serpent *Vasuki* their churning rope.

Over time, the ring was covered in ferny copper forests, much like the untamed shrubbery of the isolated Kailash Mountain.

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Read more in G40 ✿ Heavens Above

@

Look up and find common ground... You are invited to read the latest crop of stories from Aotearoa – New Zealand, Austr...
09/09/2025

Look up and find common ground...
You are invited to read the latest crop of stories from Aotearoa – New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.
Heavens Above! 👉https://garlandmag.com/issue-40/

Dou Mu, Mother of Stars of the Northern DipperAngela Sim recounts the dazzling festival that honours the Queen of Heaven...
08/09/2025

Dou Mu, Mother of Stars of the Northern Dipper

Angela Sim recounts the dazzling festival that honours the Queen of Heaven.
https://garlandmag.com/article/dou-mu/

✿ Excerpts:

the Nine Emperor Gods, *Jiǔ Huáng Dà Dì* (九皇大帝), high celestial lords charged with the gravest of duties: to govern the turning of the planets, to record virtue and vice, and to decide the most delicate balance of all… the allotment of life and death.

On the eve of the ninth lunar month, the world holds its breath along the shorelines of Singapore, East Coast Park, and crowds dressed in white gather in the hush of the night. The air is cool, the moon silver, the sea whispering against the sand. This is *qing shui* (清水), the pure water night, when the Receiving of the Nine begins.

To the uninitiated, the Nine Emperor Gods Festival is a spectacle—processions, incense, chanting by the sea. But to those who know, it is a cosmic renewal: a rebalancing of yin and yang, a resetting of the moral register, a tide that sweeps away the old year’s misfortunes and sets the course for the next.

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Read more in G40 ✿ Heavens Above

moon landing: A lunar collaboration of weaving and musicMargo Selby talks about her collaboration with composer Helen Ca...
05/09/2025

moon landing: A lunar collaboration of weaving and music

Margo Selby talks about her collaboration with composer Helen Caddick to produce a weaving for Canterbury Cathedral in honour of pioneer women computer circuit makers.
https://garlandmag.com/article/moon-landing/

✿ Excerpts:

It honours the Navajo women who wove the computer circuits used in the 1969 moon landing and links a 16‑metre hand‑woven textile to an original string score.
Selby and five assistants wove the lampas textile on a 20‑shaft computer dobby loom over months, letting the music’s rhythm guide colour and stripes.

I work instinctively and freely when responding to music. I like to let the music direct my instinctive colour and proportion choices. I also like to find patterns within the mathematical formulas that are found within music, applying the length of beats to proportion.

I wanted the piece to be celebratory and uplifting with maximal colour, so I used the yellow as a starting point and took this on a journey through the spectrum.

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Read more in G40 ✿ Heavens Above

Cheongju, South Korea, is a special place. Our journey began here 10 years ago. It is inspiring to see such thoughtful w...
04/09/2025

Cheongju, South Korea, is a special place. Our journey began here 10 years ago. It is inspiring to see such thoughtful work still being made in the world today.

Here are some glimpses of the 2025 Cheongju Craft Biennale.

Portrait by Jinju Kang as part of rice crafting series.
Sena Gu's mesmerising clay hand sculptures
Eunjin Ko with one of the collaborative Korean-Kyrgyz works
The scent ring for visitors to the Thai pavilion
Pinaree Sanpitak Thai garland installation
Rirkrit Tiravanija fed the masses with Pad Thai - Kimchi fusion
Gold Prize winner Julia Obermaier with her marble erasers
Mateo Cremades with his baroque parchment objects from musical instruments.

You could easily spend a week exploring all the dimensions of this epic gathering of people and objects.


Bonne Aventure ✿ How stars come to earthLoraine Savary of Rousse tells the story of celestial ceramic works that promise...
04/09/2025

Bonne Aventure ✿ How stars come to earth

Loraine Savary of Rousse tells the story of celestial ceramic works that promise good fortune.
https://garlandmag.com/article/bonne-aventure/

✿ Excerpts:

Their Bonne Aventure series uses porcelain, earthenware and gold leaf to play with light and suggest stars, fate and the moon.

They work intuitively, recycle clay and see the series as a shared human adventure.

Something happened that we don’t even know how to explain, and from that first piece, we sketched a whole notebook of ideas. Since then, we’ve worked together in a way where we no longer know who does what in our pieces.
Our collaboration is very intuitive, similar to children playing. When kids play, they don’t explicitly direct each other; they just do it, and ideas flow freely. It’s a creative life intertwined with our personal lives.

We frequently use translucent pages to overlay and manipulate designs, keeping core lines while introducing new elements.

We created a rounded sphere from small, superimposed half-coins to form a pattern resembling a palm leaf. The goal was to infuse the object with a sense of mystery, moving beyond its traditional association with divination, and symbolically bringing it to life.

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Read more in G40 ✿ Heavens Above

SkywaysShannon Garson reflects on the childhood that inspired a love of the night sky that she captures in her moon jars...
03/09/2025

Skyways

Shannon Garson reflects on the childhood that inspired a love of the night sky that she captures in her moon jars.
https://garlandmag.com/article/skyways/

✿ Excerpts:

”Skyways” is a play on the word “flyway”, a flight path used by large numbers of birds while migrating between their breeding grounds and their overwintering quarters.

Moon jars have a long history in Korean culture. They are typically pure white and made from porcelain in two hemispheres.

My moon-shaped vessels function like the pages of a diary, capturing the ephemeral passing of particular days in the drawings. I will never be able to make those same pots again.

The drawings are also inspired by Constable’s cloud studies, 100’s of en plein air paintings made in the summer and autumn of 1861 and 1862 on Hampstead Heath.

Thirty tiny porcelain bowls were exhibited on a long, mirrored table to form a composition called “Constellations”. I wanted it to capture all the glimpses of the Milky Way you have had, glancing at the sky as you open the front door, sitting outside under the stars looking up, waking in the early morning and staring at the stars through your bedroom window, the first, strange glimpse of the stars when you travel far from home and the familiar rush of beauty as your home stars are above when you return, a kaleidoscope of starlight that fits in your palm.

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Read more in G40 ✿ Heavens Above

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