About RIO
RIO Magazine
From 2009 to 2010 Really Interesting Objects (RIO) printed RIO as a free bi-monthly magazine distributing copies across Scotland. It has now been transformed into our website.
RIO magazine is for everyone who enjoys craft exhibitions and wishes they could see more of them, who likes to be original in their fashion style and in their home, or who simply wants to know more about the imaginative and fascinating craft you can find in Scotland.
To us, craft is about style, fashion, culture, design, personality and art. It can be a way to express who you are, an art object, an impulse buy, an heirloom passed down through generations or something astonishing in an exhibition or museum.
Really Interesting Objects
Really Interesting Objects is a publishing and creative production company which works cross-art form to create innovative, entertaining and engaging new ways for communities to experience and enjoy quality craft.
Our values are adventurousness, a pioneering spirit, creativity, originality and integrity, underpinned with knowledge, experience and a passion for objects and their stories.
Is it Prêt-à-Porter or Prêt-à-Craft?
In 2011 at Pittenweem Arts Festival Tina Rose, curator and founder of RIO, premiered Flashcraft, a creative collaboration between craft, film and theatre, bringing craft to arts audiences of all ages in an unexpected, entertaining and eye-catching way. Taking the concept of a flash mob we took craft into the festival crowd creating a series of two minute craft exhibitions with human plinths. The initiative was funded by Creative Scotland and supported by Pittenweem Arts Festival, working with theatre arts company ActiveInquiry and film production company Blue Iris Films. Watch one of the performances at www.flashcraft.co.uk.
Word Craft
Word Craft, a collection of poetry inspired by craft objects, is our first online publication. These objects and poems formed an exhibition of craft by seven craft artists working in Scotland with poetry written by nine Scottish poets from Words On Canvas at Pitteenweem Arts Festival 2012. Words On Canvas is a writers’ group which is supported by the National Galleries of Scotland. Exhibition curated by Tina Rose, director of Really Interesting Objects.
The Big Craft Give-Away
On Saturday 22 September 2012 as part of the Year of Creative Scotland RIO organised the first Big Craft Give-Away giving away thousands of craft objects as gifts to inspire people to go and see craft. These craft objects were created at venues that have a connection with craft, by craft artists working with local communities, and were influenced by the place where they were made.
Funded by Creative Scotland, and delivered in collaboration with High Life Highland and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the initiative created first in a lifetime opportunities for people to get involved in making at three venues – Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Dawyck Botanic Garden in the Scottish Borders. The event was a huge success, and the next Big Craft Give-Away Day will be held on Saturday 21 September 2013 when the number of participating venues will increase to ten across Scotland. Read more at bigcraftgiveaway.com.