So, did you make it to Contemporary Applied Arts this summer for Nicholas Arroyave-Portela's exhibition? If you didn't, don't say we didn't tell you about it!

If you did, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. 'Deeply personal', 'evocative' and 'revolutionary' were just some of the words being tossed about the night the DLA Visual Arts team were in attendance. And we'd have to say that we agree with them! 

But of course the big story is that by the end of the exhibition each of the three distinctive ceramic vessels Nicholas had created for us to auction were all sold to the highest bidders, raising a £4,800 donation towards DLA and our sponsored project of the building of a primary school for the children of Ximiri in the Chirripó Indigenous Reserve in Costa Rica through Raleigh International. This was a huge success for everyone involved and we want to once again thank Nicholas for his generosity and support! 

The gala evening we organised during the first week of the exhibition was a wonderful opportunity to hear Nicholas talk more in detail about his practice and these works. It was also a great to have such esteemed speakers present as Professor Valerie Frasier from the University of Essex and author Oscar Guardiola Rivera to add their thoughts to the discussion. All in all, it was a great evening, with delicious food also provided by Tito's Peruvian Restaurant. 

Take a look at some of our snapshots from the night below:

Thank you to all who turned out on the evening and to everyone who visited the exhibition and placed bids on our vessels. If you would like to stay up to date on future events please contact us to be added to our mailing list. And of course, keep checking back here for more updates!