Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

The Vulcan of Contemporary Art

August 30, 2010 by Marion Maneker

Claude Koenig and Rungwe Kingdon

The Telegraph profiles the Pangolin Foundry where Contemporary artists like Marc Quinn cast their works:

More than 200 artists every year see their dreams made substance there, nurtured by a team of midwives every bit as diligent as those working in the hospital down the road.

“We are the guts rather than the glamour end of the art world,” says Claude Koenig who, with her husband, Rungwe Kingdon, owns the Pangolin foundry in Stroud.

Started 25 years ago with a £1,000 loan, the foundry, now the biggest in Britain, employs 186 people and is the central turbine of a new industry in the town – art.

Once famous for manufacturing scarlet jackets for soldiers in the Civil War and, more recently, tennis balls, Stroud now harbours around 180 artists’ studios, including two of Damien Hirst’s “factories”.

Not for the Kingdon Koenigs, however, the houses in Long Island or the boats and smart London pads that their artists enjoy. They live in a barn in the slightly dull village of Stonehouse.

“But we have fun,” they say. “We get invited to all the big parties.”

Damien Hirst’s Dream Factory of British Art (Telegraph)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Tales of Art Deals Gone BadTales of Art Deals Gone Bad
  • Arp and the US: A Conference in Berlin, June 22-23Arp and the US: A Conference in Berlin, June 22-23
  • Week of Warhol = $290mWeek of Warhol = $290m
  • Sotheby’s Warns of Sales Are Off 33% in Q1Sotheby’s Warns of Sales Are Off 33% in Q1
  • Denver's New DirectorDenver's New Director
  • Gurlitt Had At Least 91 Works That Were Likely To Be Looted, Germans Now SayGurlitt Had At Least 91 Works That Were Likely To Be Looted, Germans Now Say

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

LiveArt

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor
 

Loading Comments...