"PRACTICAL MAGIC"

A feature by Valentina Leonova L'Officiel Russia  [translated from Russian]

Designer Susana Shaw [...] knows how to infuse everyday objects with new meaning and content:

When she takes part in an exhibition, she sets the table: A wooden sugar basin with a ledge on which a spoon is balancing. Three deep plates, large, middling and small; each of these has an additional object which holds its own balance on the edge of the plate. A silver spaghetti bowl with a pair of forks. It makes no differences how they are placed; the prongs of the forks always meet in the middle of the dish. Just now a crowd of visitors have gathered round the enchanting table. They are discussing how it can be possible to place the spoon without it falling into the plate. I simply ask her politely - Susana reveals the secret and willingly gives an account of the symbolic significance of each object - "Here is a romantic place setting for a couple; there it's for family, while this dish with three forks is called 'Manger à Trois'. One day I turned my attention to the fact that sitting at table is an important component of human life. Plates and dishes reflect a person's character and even their destiny".
Susana was born in Cambridge. Incidentally, her great-grandmother was born in Russia; she fell in love with an Italian opera singer, and ran away with him from her native land. Our Heroine did not run away, she simply graduated from St. Martins, and received an MA from the Royal College of Art. "London is full of people and ideas because of its multi-cultures & permissiveness. [...] all these traditions in which creativity and eccentricity flourish, are continually re-cultivated, although perhaps there are more poetic places elsewhere. London is a centre for business, and creativity a commodity, so with these combined you can achieve a lot working here." In this respect, she has been lucky.
In her childhood she dreamt of becoming a biologist or archaeologist - it was never her aim to be an imitation heroine from a film or novel. "I've always wanted to be myself. Up to now I've always had great difficulty in talking about myself. It's easier for me to create my personal story in objects. Let them talk for me". Talking forks and knives do not come into her immediate plans so far. Instead Susana is preparing a collection of decorations in steel and silver, she is exercising her skills in practical magic, making her table cover to order, and thoughtfully keeping an eye on other simple objects around her.

Translation by E. Mrosovsky