Signing off!

It is with sadness that we must announce that this is our last blog post - our project is coming to an end.

We have really enjoyed writing these blog posts, and we hope that you have enjoyed reading them.

It doesn't have to end here, however: remember you can find our page on the Geffrye website, and play with our interactive map of the world and watch our digital story, A Short History of Tea in English Homes.

Also, our The World at Home display begins this Tuesday (17th) and will remain in the cases in the Twentieth Century Galleries at the Geffrye for the next few weeks. You will also be able to view a version of the display panels online. Find out how to get to the Geffrye here (PS it's free!).

We have also catered for the Museum's younger visitors: a special Sam the Dog trail is soon to be installed, which explores the international connections of some of the Geffrye's objects on display in the period rooms. The 'feely box' (in which you have to guess what objects are by feeling them rather than seeing them) has also been refreshed with new objects with an international twist.

Our project has been part of a much larger Stories of the World project, which is itself part of the Cultural Olympiad. The Geffrye is in the process of developing their main Stories of the World project for 2010, so what this space. In the meantime, there are loads of Stories of the World projects going on in museums all over London and the rest of the country. See the Facebook page to find one near you.


We would like to say a huge thankyou to everyone who has followed us over the last couple of months! We would also like to thank the Geffrye for allowing us to go behind-the-scenes at the museum, and the MLA for funding our project. We hope you enjoy the results!

Goodbye from The World at Home!

World at Home for the Family

Lots of pictures for you today! Tuesday and Wednesday saw our The World at Home family days take over the Geffrye Museum, and I think we can safely say that a good time was had by all. Here is a sample of what went on:

Scents of the World - making pomanders to take home

Mixing fragrances in Scents of the World

Tales from the Deep - handling 300 year old tea bowls and saucers (lucky children - we haven't been allowed to do this!)

Tales from the Deep - retelling the story of the Ca Mau shipwreck using shadow puppets. Truly impressive.

 

Tales from the Deep - concentrating hard at the OHP

 

Lunchtime at the museum in the sunshine

 

Company's Coming - baking Turkish biscuits. They smelt amazing!

  

Company's Coming - tasty biscuit mixture

 

Company's Coming - the finished product!



Printed Patterns - making prints using fabric paint



Printed Patterns - even our youngest visitors joined in



Printed Patterns - some of the finished prints. They will all be stitched together to make a banner

Fantastic Fans - remember we told you about Japanese uchiwa? Some of the children at yesterday's family day made their own to take home with them



Another Fantastic Fan

Tea Leaf Reading - enjoying a nice cup of Early Grey

Tea Leaf Reading - finding out what different symbols in the tea leaves mean

 There are more photos over on our Flickr site. Were you there? See if you can find yourself!

Tales from the Deep

On both of our Stories of the World Family Days next week (Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th April), families can take part in our Tales from the Deep storytelling activity.

Tales from the Deep is based on the story of a shipwreck discovered by fishermen in 1998, off the Ca Mau peninsular in Vietnam. The wreck was of a Chinese ship known as a junk, which sank in about 1725, laden with cargo destined for the European market. There was great demand for Chinese porcelain in Europe at this time, especially to equip people to drink the newly fashionable tea.

The junk was carrying thousands of pieces of Chinese porcelain, probably ferrying them between Canton (Guangzhou) and the Dutch trading post of Batavia (now Jakarta). It is clear that much of this porcelain was destined for sale at European ports such as London or Amsterdam; some pieces are decorated with elements of traditional Dutch fishing villages, but executed in the Chinese style. As well as this intermingling of decorative influences, there were objects of European form, such as beer mugs.



Saucer, c.1725 (c) Geffrye Museum, London

Tea bowl, c.1725 (c) Geffrye Museum, London

The tea bowl and saucer pictured above were probably made in the city of Jingdezhen, China, which is famous for its porcelain production. Their decoration shows a scene in a garden with a pavilion and three figures, a man in military clothing walking with a woman, and a man in scholarly official robes emerging from behind the pavilion.

After 250 years on the seabed, much of this cargo has now been recovered. In fact, you can see some of it on display in the Geffrye’s 1745 parlour.

Even more excitingly, families taking part in our Tales of the Deep activity will be able to handle a tea bowl recovered from the wreck. Children can then make their own shadow puppets to retell the ship’s story.

Find more information about the tea bowl and saucer pictured in the Geffrye’s collections online here.

Fantastic Fans

Next week, at our second Stories of the World Family Day on Wednesday 20th April, children can join in with our ‘Fantastic Fans!’ activity.
 



Fan, c.1890-1950 (c) Geffrye Museum, London

‘Fantastic Fans!’ is based on the Japanese fan pictured above, on display in the Geffrye Museum’s 1890 drawing room. The 1890 room is decorated in the style of the Aesthetic Movement, which was strongly influenced by Japanese art and design.

These traditional Japanese round hand fans are known as ‘uchiwa’, and they have a very long history. They came originally from China, and were made from bamboo and ‘washi’ paper. They have had many uses: as far back as the Heian period (794-1185), fans were used as ceremonial items at the Imperial court, later they became common props in performing arts such as Japanese classical dancing, and in the tea ceremony. They were also a necessity amongst ordinary people for keeping cool in the summer, and for stoking cooking fires. They are still in use today, to fan charcoal on barbeques or to cool hot rice when making sushi, and also as cheap, practical promotional items, distributed in cities in the summer.
 

Tradition in Kyoto holds that uchiwa are properly used not to fan oneself, but to fan others, as a way of expressing respect and appreciation.
 

In our ‘Fantastic Fans!’ workshop, children can make an ‘uchiwa’ fan of their own design to take home with them. See here for the programme of events.
 

See the real thing in the 1890 room!
 

See here for more information from the Geffrye's collections online.

For more on Japanese homes, see the Geffrye Museum’s exhibition 'At Home in Japan - Beyond the Minimal House', running from 22 March to 29 August 2011.

Stories of the World Family Days

Do you have restless children to entertain over the school holidays?
 

Bring them along to the Geffrye Museum for our Stories of the World Family Days for fun craft workshops, stories and more, based around some of the different cultures that have influenced English homes over the last 400 years. Children can try their hand at some Turkish baking, make shadow puppets to perform their own puppet show, or perhaps even see into the future reading tea leaves!
 

Family day (c) Geffrye Museum, London

TUESDAY , APRIL 19TH, 2010
Scents of the World
All Ages
10:30-12:30, 2:00-4:00 (24 places available)
Sweeten your home with sachets of exotic herbs and spices.
 

Wish You Were Here!
All Ages
10:30-12:30, 2:00-4:00 (24 places available)
Design a postcard to share your dream home with the world.
 

Tales From the Deep
All Ages
10:30-12:30, 2:00-4:00 (24 places available)
Handle objects from the Ca Mau shipwreck and retell the story using shadow puppets.
 

Company’s Coming
5+
12:00 and 2:30 (14 places available - register when you arrive)
Bake your own traditional Turkish tea-time treats.
 

WEDNESDAY , APRIL 20TH, 2010
Fantastic Fans!
All Ages
10:30-12:30, 2:00-4:00 (24 places available)
Explore Japanese design to create your own fan.
 

Printed Patterns
All Ages
10:30-12:30, 2:00-4:00 (24 places available)
Be inspired by 1960s textiles to produce a group piece of art.
 

Tales From the Deep
All Ages
10:30-12:30, 2:00-4:00 (24 places available)
Handle objects from the Ca Mau shipwreck and retell the story using shadow puppets.
 

Tea-leaf Reading
5+
12:00- 1:00, 2:00-3:00, 3:15-4:15 (14 places available - register when you arrive)
Try your hand at the popular Victorian parlour game of tea leaf reading.



Family day activities (c) Geffrye Museum, London

We hope to see you there!

The New Adventures of Sam the Dog & Other Stories

Along with a gallery display in the Geffrye Museum, our project team is also creating a ‘World at Home’ experience for young visitors!

As well as two family days held over the Easter holidays (more information on this coming soon!), the Feely Box and Sam the Dog children’s trail are undergoing a World at Home makeover.

The Feely Box is an opportunity for families to handle objects linked to the museum, but without being able to see them. There are information cards so you can check whether you guessed correctly what the objects are. It’s a bit like our blog mystery objects but you get to actually touch the real thing! Each object will have some multicultural link, so as well as guessing what the object is, you can work out how it links to another culture.

The Geffrye Museum Feely Box

From 11th April you will be able to feel our 14 new objects in action, and learn a bit more about how different cultures have influenced the English home.

As an extra treat, the Geffrye’s Sam the Dog trail is being redesigned to get children thinking more carefully about how English their homes are.

Sam will appear in each of the Geffrye’s period rooms to ask and answer questions about where things came from.
 

Do you know where mirrors were being made in the 17th century? Or where chess comes from? From the start of May, children (and the young at heart) can join Sam as he goes on new adventures around the world to find out the answers!