After opening the doors to Haricot Gallery in early 2023, Constance Read and Harry Raikes have already put their gallery on the map as a must-visit in the Shoreditch area. The gallery space is just around the corner from Jealous and Constance once interned in our studio - so we feel a personal connection! The pair were kind enough to answer our questions and send us some shots of the space, as well as a few little surprise gems. So what are you waiting for? Indulge in a little light reading, find out a bit about our neighbours Haricot Gallery and get down there yourselves!

Jealous:

Where did the name for Haricot Gallery come from, surely a love for beans..?

Harry & Constance:

We do just want to say that naming the gallery was one of the toughest tasks we had, and we had some shockers put out there, like Fart Studios.. but with Haricot, I would love to say that it was from our love of beans but that’s not the truth. It comes for a combination of our names Harry and Constance (Coco). If said correctly, which is not very often, it does sound like that combination. Remember, Haricot rhymes with beau not cot!

Jealous:

Haricot is one of our closest gallery neighbours. What made you want to open a gallery in Shoreditch?

Harry & Constance:

We looked all over London and when we found the space on Blackall Street it just felt right. How close we are to central London, the relationship the area has with the arts, the other galleries in the area. It made making the jump to opening that little less scary.

Jealous:

(Constance) Do you remember how old you were when you first decided you wanted to be involved with the arts?

Constance:

For my whole life, I have always enjoyed being creative and using my spare time to make things, but I had never thought about running a gallery. I don’t think there was ever an age where I made a conscious decision to be in the arts, it was more of a natural progression of studying at school, at uni, and continuing on from there. 

Jealous:

(Constance) Once upon a time you interned here with us! What is it about screenprinting that made you want to work with Jealous?

Constance:

I did! It was great fun and I am still close with a few people there which is nice to have some friendly faces so close to us. As I work predominantly in screen print myself, and Jealous is surely the most iconic screen-print studio/gallery in London, it was at the top of my list of places to work. I learnt so much from being there, observing everything and watching in awe of the incredible skill of all of your printers. It is an inspiring, and also unique place to work. 

Jealous:

We are asking collectors about the most prized artworks from their personal collections – can we ask about yours?

Harry & Constance:

We are both very early on in our journey with this, but we were able to acquire a piece from a show we did last year called ‘Up Close and Personal’. It was a photograph by Andras Ladocsi and its breath-taking. I feel very lucky to have it.

Jealous:

Are you currently working with any exciting names we need to know about?

Harry:

Of course, but honestly every artist we work with you need to know about. I don’t have the time to highlight them all on here so I will the pick most appropriate… Constance Read. She will hate this, but what she is doing with her new screen-prints onto canvas, it’s special and I can’t wait to showcase them. Look out for work in our next exhibition ‘In Colour’.

Constance:

No, that’s not true. We have lots of exciting emerging artists on our programme this year, so keep your eyes peeled! 

Jealous:

The concept of Haricot is to subvert the traditional, institutionalised way of presenting art – what does this mean to you?

Harry & Constance:

For us it’s to completely change the narrative of what a gallery experience is. Too many times you walk into spaces and it’s a cold and eerie environment. You want to leave as soon as you arrive, and it makes the experience engaging with the works on show nearly impossible. Simply we want to flip that on its head. This means that we need to work on making sure that people walk in and instantly feel comfortable to be curious. How we do that, well you will have to come to the gallery and find out. Can’t be giving out our secrets here!

Jealous:

Heavy questions over – we have to know if you have any exciting projects coming up.

Harry & Constance:

We do, so currently our group show ‘a dream within a dream’ which explores the delicate interplay between reality and fantasy, is something we are very proud of. The group of artists are really exciting and that translates into their works. That runs until the 2^nd March, so don’t miss the chance to see it! After that we open ‘In Colour’ a group exhibition with five artists exploring their relationship with colour. This show opens on the 8^th March and runs until the 6^th April. You won’t want to miss that one either.

Jealous:

(Constance) You’re an artist yourself. Do you find your knowledge of the practical side of the art world has influenced the way you run the gallery, or the type of exhibitions you hold?

Constance:

100% yes! With regards to practicality, I think a lot of artists tend to be quite good at DIY! Since Harry and I are the only members of the Haricot team, we try to be as industrial as possible, repainting different designs on the floor and walls between exhibitions, installing the pieces ourselves, designing the website and exhibition graphics, and often curating too. We have to play a lot of roles between us, and I think having an artistic background helps with most of these elements.