The Sun is but a Morning Star

The Sun is but a Morning Star takes its name from Henry David Thoreau’s reflection on quiet awakenings and the promise of renewal from the final lines of Walden:

“Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn.

The sun is but a morning star.”

The actualisation of the self, culture, and creativity is an active and conscious process. The symbolic ‘morning star’ denotes emergence and becoming, articulating that even what we perceive as light and fullness is only the beginning. Within the sphere of craft, this concept reminds us that the handmade holds value beyond its beauty and practical application. It conjures up the potential and the space for reflection and innovation through new forms.

In an era defined by urgency, acceleration, and systemic overwhelm, this exhibition calls to question: how do we make in an urgent world? What can slowness, care, and the handmade offer—not as an escape, but as resistance?

Bringing together artists from the United Kingdom, United States, South Korea, and Singapore, the exhibition explores the poetic and spiritual force of making. Each artist draws from tactile traditions while pushing the boundaries of forms, materials, and narratives. Their practices celebrate the intelligence of the hand, the intimacy of process, and the radical potential of stillness.

In The Sun is but a Morning Star, gestures become quiet revolutions. Threads, fibres, and forms speak not only of craft but of time, emotion, and attention. You are invited to pause, to feel, and to be reminded that amid the noise, making remains an act of presence, a morning star that signals not an end, but a beginning.

Text by Dana Chang

September 14 - 21, 2025 (London Design Festival)

GPS Gallery, Soho, London

https://londondesignfestival.com/stories/the-dawn-of-making