Kathleen Reilly is a Scottish artist and metalworker. She graduated from The Glasgow School of Art Silversmithing & Jewellery department in 2015 and completed her Masters in Jewellery & Metal at the Royal College of Art in 2018. In 2019 she was awarded the Daiwa Scholarship by the Daiwa-Anglo Japanese Foundation, and in 2022 a Dezeen Award for Homeware design of the year. She is represented by Gallery S O.
By writing poetry, she observes and absorbs fleeting moments and unconscious actions within her every day; key texts are chosen and abstracted to form tangible outcomes. As she associates her writings with the physical world, memories awaken and juxtapositions form. Reilly plays with the semiotic qualities of her objects that seemingly flux between circumstances. Her work encompasses a broad range of technical and industrial processes, including, casting, mould making and die-cutting, focusing on the power of material and composition to shift entrenched understandings. Reilly reinvents the commonplace with elegant and often witty outcomes that carry ambiguous functions.
Collaborating with chefs internationally, she continues to provoke thought on the everyday and our rituals of the table. Creating functional work of a particularly experimental kind, she introduces users to new social experiences when dining. She has worked closely with Amsterdam based Steinbeisser on their experimental gastronomy events.
In addition to her artistic practice, Reilly works as a guest lecturer at various international institutions and on research and design projects for design and consultancy studios in Japan and the UK.
Solo/ Duo Exhibitions
2024 Oku by Kathleen Reilly | London Design Festival, Galleria Objets, London, 14th-22nd September
2023 Through the garden window, the dew on the grass, Cale, Tokyo, 28th July-18th August
2021 Oku by Kathleen Reilly, Designart Tokyo Exhibition, Blue Bottle Coffee Roppongi, Tokyo, 22nd-31st October
2019 As Above, So Below, Gallery S O, London, 5th April-26th May
Selected Exhibitions
2023 Awn - OBSESSED!, OBSESSED! Jewellery Festival hosted by currentobsessionmag, Amsterdam, 10th-12th November
2023 Awn, Oens Have, Smykkernes By, Copenhagen, 28th September-1st October
2023 Orgatec Tokyo with Karimoku Furniture, Together, we can make it happen, Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, 26th-28th April
2022 Steinbeisser’s Experimental Gastronomy with Jeong Kwan, Gemeenlandshuis, Amsterdam, September 8th-11th
2022 Interior Lifestyle with Ohizumi Bussan, Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, 1st-3rd June
2020 Collect, Represented by Gallery S O, Somerset House, London, 27th February-1st March
2019 Moonlike II, Gallery S O, London, 6th June-28th July
2019 Introducing, 50m, Eccleston Yards, London, 10th-21st June
2018 Theo Fennell Award Winners, Theo Fennell Store, London, 24th September-6th October
2018 Kathleen Reilly x Studio Augmenta, London Design Festival, 12 Regent Street, London, 15th-23rd September
2018 5 Senses, Labor Im Chor, Stuttgart, 12th July-26th August
2018 The Show, Royal College of Art, Woo Building, London, 22nd June-1st July
2018 Talente 2018, Messe Munchen, Munich, 7-13th March
2017 Steinbeisser’s Experimental Gastronomy, The Lloyd Hotel, Amsterdam, 6th-8th October
2016 London Design Festival, OXO Tower, London, 22nd-25th September
2016 Talents at Ambiente, Messe Frankfurt, Germany, 12th-16th February
2015 The Winter Window by Kathleen Reilly, The Glasgow Guild, Glasgow, December-February
2015 Artist In Residence Show, Designskolen Kolding, Denmark, 15th-18th December
2015 The Glasgow School of Art Degree Show, The Reid Gallery, Glasgow, 11th-20th June
2014 Perspectives in Gold, Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, 4th April-4th May
2014 Silver Legnica, Legnica Jewellery Festival, Poland, 27th April-11th June
2013 Instore by Noritaka Tatehana, Hole in the Wall Gallery, Shibuya, Tokyo, 11th-20th November
Selected Awards & Grants
2024 Creative Scotland Open Fund
2024 Tokyo Arts Council Startup Grant
2024 VACMA Grant
2023 Danish Arts Foundation Grant
2022 Dezeen Awards Winner, Homeware design of the year
2022 British Business Award, British Chamber of Commerce Japan
2021 SIET Award
2021 Designart Tokyo ‘Under 30’ Programme Winner
2019-2021 The Daiwa Scholarship, Daiwa-Anglo Japanese Foundation, London
2018 Theo Fennell 'Overall Excellence' Award, Royal College of Art, London
2018 Finalist for Talente Award, Internationale Handwerksmesse, Munich
2016-2018 The Robertson Trust Scholarship
2016 Ambiente Trends 1st Prize, Ambiente Frankfurt, Germany
2015 Nominated for The Newbery Medal, The Glasgow School of Art
2015 The Incorporation of Hammermen Prize
2014 & 2015 Silver Bullion Grant Award, The Goldsmiths Company, London
2013 Travel Bursary Award, Friends of The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow
Guest Lecturing
Royal College of Art, London
Central Saint Martins, London
École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow
Selected Press
2024
Design Anthology | Issue 39 Print
Elle Gourmet Japan 『エル・グルメNO.42』Print
Japan-based Scots designer launches folding knife Oku, The Herald Scotland
A playfully subversive, Niigata-inspired knife from a rising design star, The Japan Times
2023
Celebrating 5 Years of Japan House London, Japan House London
say hi to, Kathleen Reilly Studio Visit
design wanted, Refreshing but rooted in culture – 6 kitchenware and tableware designs
Japan Today, Designer Kathleen Reilly reveals what it’s like working in Japan
Dezeen, Winning a Dezeen Award "made me feel like anything is possible" say past winners
say hi to, Kathleen Reilly for say hi to ATLAS
Yanko Design, This minimal folded Japanese knife can be hooked onto the edge of a plate
2022
SZ Magazin, Oku featured in butter special by Kathrin Koschitzki Print
Dezeen, Dezeen announces design winners for Dezeen Awards 2022
Dezeen, Kathleen Reilly creates folded knife that can be “hooked onto the rim of a plate”
Elle Decoration Russia, Oku by Kathleen Reilly
2021
Tokyo Weekender Magazine, Yes! I am A Long Way from Home Print
Blue Bottle Coffee, Designart Tokyo
Design Anthology, Oku by Kathleen Reilly
Subsequence Magazine Vol. 4, Small Talk 雑談 Print
2020
Biology of Metal: Craftsmanship in Tsubame-sanjo, Exhibition Legacy by Japan House London
디자인 Design 2020.3, Eating Experience, Hanging Basket Plate for Steinbeisser Print
The Design Edit Magazine, Collect 2020
2019
Architectural Digest, Middle East, Steinbeisser - Food for Thought Print
Wired Magazine UK, The Fine Art of Slow Food, Hanging Basket Plate for Steinbeisser Print
The Weekender, Steinbeisser - Kaum Zu Fassen - Hanging Basket Plate featured with Kristian Baumann Print
Domus Magazine, Poetry blends with daily objects in an exhibition in London
Wallpaper Magazine, Under the loupe: our latest watch and jewellery finds
Whitechapel Gallery, First Thursdays - As Above, So Below at Gallery S O
2018
Talente, Internationalen Handwerksmesse Munchen Online & Print
Metal Magazine, Kathleen Reilly x Steinbeisser
2017
Steinbeisser’s Experimental Gastronomy, 5th Anniversary at the Lloyd Hotel Amsterdam
Domus Magazine, Kathleen Reilly for Steinbeisser
Metal Magazine, waiting for a table
2016
Domus Magazine, Unexpected Tableware
2015
Art Aurea Magazine, Pleasures of the Table Online & Print