INTRODUCING the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of Crafts, which celebrates creativity as the very essence of life. Our Cape Town-based cover star Igshaan Adams shows us his cloud-like bead sculptures and muses on the redemptive power of beauty. Meanwhile, as the UK hurtles towards a general election, we argue that craft in all its forms is fundamental for the country’s future. And we turn a spotlight on food – exploring the many ways in which craft and cooking connect.
Also in the issue: Emma Witter gives us a glimpse of her art pieces made of shells and bones, Bijoy Jain and Chiaki Maki contemplate body and land, and a crop of modern-day thatchers champion their ancient building technique. Woodworker Rio Kobayashi tells us why reality is the best education and Jacqueline Poncelet finds the meaning of life. Chila Burman hears the chimes of an ice cream van and Jonathan Baldock takes centre stage. Yinka Shonibare talks war and peace and Outi Pieski advocates for soft protest. Makers in the Middle East come together amid conflict and upheaval, while other craftspeople embrace the elements.
Elsewhere, the Barbican gets tangled up in textiles, Japan’s mingei movement goes global, and gaming gets the handmade touch.
Find out more and get hold of your copy via the link in our bio 🎊🎊🎊
Looking for a stylish & creative venue for your next event or project? ✨ ⭐ 🤩
Nestled within the heart of Central London (just a stone's throw away from Angel and Kings Cross) Crafts Council Gallery is the perfect place to hold a party.
Or perhaps you're after a dreamy location for your next photoshoot?
Over the years we've opened up our airy, modern and quirky space for a variety of different reasons and don't want to stop just there! Event planners get in touch.
hire@craftscouncil.org.uk
(PS we're partnering with foodies @caterlondon who are here to suit your culinary needs.) 😋
Images:
1: TOAST Residency. Photographed by James Bannister.
2. We Listen Takeover. Photographed by Jessica Pierre Ross.
3. Crafts Magazine Launch. Photographed by Stefan Pop.
4. Crafts Council Gallery. Photographer unknown.
#venuehire#london#londonevents#eventslondon#events#eventhire#creativespace#creativevent#venuehirelondon#craftscouncilgallery
🚨 We are currently on the lookout for an agency to work with us on a significant website redevelopment and marketing project! 🚨
Could this be you?
The ideal agency will have demonstrable experience delivering transformational digital projects and membership growth for national arts organisations.
Project Timeline: August 2024 - mid-2025.
Budget: Up to £60,000, inclusive of all marketing and website redevelopment expenses.
Please submit your response to this form by 12pm on Monday 8 July to be considered for this opportunity.
Visit our link in bio to find out more.
Image: Vessels by Shawanda Corbett. Photographed by @deborahionaphotography for Sisters Who Make at Crafts Council Gallery.
We are delighted to announce the winners of this year's Craft School!
We received a whole host of incredible entries from across the country which made for incredibly difficult judging! Every single entrant wowed us with their creativity, and their passion for theme - which focused on sustainability and the many ways we can create art that minimally impacts the environment.
The winners of this year's competition are:
Image 1: KS4 - Bowl by Jack Hulme. Bury College
Image 2: KS2 - Makeup Stand by Sofia Clarke. Nelson Academy
Image 3: KS3 - Flatpack Shelter by Matis Bouveret, Noah Garrido Romero, Emily Bowler, Isabelle May, Kitty Mitchinson, Maheer Mustafa, Jayden Tippett, Freddie Ekers, Braydon Casali. Belfairs Academy
Teacher - Gill Sekatawa. Nelson Academy
A huge congratulations to everyone involved! Find out more about Craft School and view all the other submissions at the link in our bio.
Happy Windrush Day!
Since 2017, the 22 June has been marked as a special day of celebration for the contributions that Caribbean migrants and their families have made to the UK.
On this day we celebrate the amazing makers who all form part of the Windrush generation. Amongst these are textile designer Althea McNish, who moved to London from Trinidad in 1951.
A prolific maker, McNish created work for many esteemed clients naming Liberty, Ascher, Balenciaga and more amongst her fans. Her works often took cues from the Trinidadian landscape, featuring flora and fauna from her birthplace within her designs.
Find out more about Althea McNish's work in an article written by @dorcasstories available to read now at our link in bio.
📸: Althea McNish working on murals for SS Oriana cruise ship, 1959. Courtesy N15 Archive
To mark #summersolstice we've had a dive into our Collection and recently discovered this fabulous brooch by Edward de Large.
This spectacular painterly effect was created by anodizing titanium. de Large was an absolute master in this process, using it to create complex, trippy, and other-worldly scenes.
Find out more about Crafts Council's Collection by visiting the link in our bio.
📸: Edward de Large, Brooch, 1979. Crafts Council Collection: J9. Photo: Todd-White Art Photography.
Collect Open applications close next Monday!
Are you an independent artist who works with a craft-led practice? We're inviting you to put forward installations and/or artworks to be exhibited at Collect 2025.
Collect Open offers a unique platform for artists to exhibit alongside the specialist galleries taking part in Collect, presenting their exceptional works to collectors, curators, journalists and other UK and international sector professionals in the beautiful surrounds of London's Somerset House.
Applications close at 9am on Monday 24 June. Head to the link in our bio for more information and to apply.
📸: Object CD N.16, 2021-22, red oak wood, by Anna Bera. Collect Open exhibitor 2023. Photo: Emilia Oksentowicz
We're delighted to see that some of our #CCDirectory makers are showing work at this year's Summer Exhibition!
Opening today, the Summer Exhibition is the world's oldest open submission show. Featuring work in a variety of mediums, it has displayed some of the art world's most cutting edge figures since 1769.
Look out for work by Jacky Oliver (@jackyolivermetalwork ), Alison Aye (@alisonaye ) and Joanne Lamb (@joannelambstudio ).
View the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. Open today until 18th August. Head to @royalacademyarts for more information. Check out each maker's work on our Directory at the link in our bio.
📸: 1. Alison Aye portrait. Photographer: Alison Aye. 2. Field to Fork by Jacky Oliver at Collect Open. Photographer unknown. 3. Unknown title. Joanne Lamb. Photographer unknown.
Say hello to our new Directory member @studio_sarkezi ✨
Anita Sarkezi uses a TC2 Digital Loom to create her works. By designing her patterns on the computer, they are then remotely operated on the loom.
Sarkezi's designs are inspired by her Slavic background and take cues from Eastern European material culture. As an émigré who moved to Scotland in 2018, her sensitive tapestries reference migration and movement.
Explore Sarkezi's work and more in our #CCDirectory . Link in bio.
📸: Anita Sarkezi, Folklore: Decoded I. Photo: Alice Biolo.
‘You get a certain amount of imperfection with hand-dyeing and weaving,’ says textile artist @jaccobmonk . ‘You can plan it, but the element of unpredictability and surprise is exciting.’
Working in the process of ikat weaving - a technique found across Asia, Africa and Latin America where warp yarns are bound and resist-dyed before weaving - Jacob Monk is known for taking inspiration from multiple cultural influences in order to create luscious wall hangings where colours melt into one another.
In 2020 Monk featured in @craftsmagazine_ !!re!!_039;s September/October 2020 issue, as part of their New Makers section. Fast forward four years and the Crafts team are still as hungry as ever to discover work by the hottest new craft talent.
Crafts magazine are inviting makers to be included in their annual crafts round up. Keep an eye on @craftsmagazine , @craftscouncil and @young.craft.citizens for details on how to be featured.
In the meantime, read the full feature on Jacob Monk for free for the next 24 hours at our link in bio.
📸: Jacob Monk photographed by @thomatkinson .
✨ OPEN TODAY AT CRAFTS COUNCIL GALLERY ✨
Crafts, Community, Connection: a showcase of architectural models, photographs, drawings and film by Studio Saar.
As part of the London Festival of Architecture 2024, Anglo-Indian Architectural Studio, @studiosaar.design will host an exhibition at Crafts Council Gallery that celebrates the practice's vision of creating uplifting spaces and places for all.
Bringing together a combination of models, photographs, drawings, visualisations and film; Craft, Community and Connection explores Studio Saar's most significant projects to date, across different cultural contexts, in the UK and India, with the same vision - to craft spaces that uplift.
Saar means 'essence' in Sanskrit and exploring the soul of a brief, a place and its people is fundamental to the studio's approach.
This exhibition will run from today until Saturday 15 June. Crafts Council Gallery is open 11am-5pm, Monday to Saturday.
Image 1: Third Space Project, Studio Saar. Image 2: Title unknown, Studio Saar. Photographers unknown.
June marks the UK’s Gypsy, Traveller and Roma History Month while June 7 2024, is the day the United Kingdom formally ratifies the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
To mark the moment, we’ve removed the paywall on @craftsmagazine article by British-Romani textile artist Imogen Bright Moon, who wrote about canal art, fairground art and vardo making, all craft traditions practiced within Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Showmen and Boater (GRTSB) communities.
All these crafts feature on the @heritagecrafts Red List of Endangered Craft, and were added to the list last year following a change in its criteria that recognises practices by cultural context and not just skill.
The article feels particularly timely in light of tomorrow’s ratification of UNESCO’s convention. Defined as ‘immaterial cultural practices’, ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ encompasses customs, rituals, traditions and more. The UNESCO Convention was created to safeguard the future of these practices, ensuring their traditions are preserved and passed on.
Read the article free throughout June via the link - and share your thoughts on this important field of craft traditions.
Image: Kerri Williams is one of the few practising GRTSB canal artists. Photo: Váradi Béla
