It's beautiful. And it's gold.
A very limited edition gold F!NK jug has been released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Craft ACT. And the iconic jug is appropriately hued to celebrate the golden anniversary.
Eighteen of the jugs, handmade in the F!NK workshop in Queanbeyan, went on sale in the Craft ACT shop on Tuesday for $435. And they were quickly snapped up.
Craft ACT chief executive officer Rachael Coghlan commissioned F!NK director Gretel Harrison to make the "real one of a kind" piece.
"It's an important moment reflecting a really significant relationship and a really beautiful, creative community here in Canberra," Ms Coghlan said.
Ms Harrison, a life member of Craft ACT, paid homage to the late F!NK founder Robert Foster in the design. She took his iconic water jug in anodised aluminium and echoed the reflective spots of his one-off 2001 handbag Blue Ether.
"I wanted to do something that was going to be really special because Robbie had been on the board of Craft ACT and very much involved almost right from the inception," she said.
"And I wanted it to be quite textural so it's been influenced by a handbag that he made and also for me it's a memory of when we went to New York and went to all these places to buy this crazy plastic. So he bought this plastic and made this handbag and it was just so beautiful. So there's so many connections for me in this."
Bengt Cannon from F!NK individually hand surfaced finished each "incredibly labour-intensive" piece.
Ms Coghlan said collectors were at the Craft ACT shop almost as soon as it opened on Tuesday to grab the jug.
She said the jug was a reflection of the skill and endurance of the local craft community, with F!NK established in 1993.
"I think the craft community is really about relationships and I think a really beautiful relationship we have is with Gretel and F!INK and what we had with Robbie. It's just a really lovely thing to celebrate in our 50th year," she said.
Ms Harrison, who joined F!NK in 1995, said 18 was selected as the number of jugs to release as only six jugs could be anodised at a time.
"It's really really labour-intensive to make them," she said.
The jugs were a Canberra icon.
"It's a beautiful, iconic design made here in the region and it's small-scale manufacturing, keeping many people employed. But it's also handmade, it's labour-intensive and filled with love, Ms Coghlan said.
