Themes and Features for Craftworks 2024
Presented by furniture restorer, co-chair of Heritage Crafts and presenter Jay Blades MBE, Craftworks, brought to you by Cox London, will bring together the country’s premier craft organisations and businesses, including QEST, Design-Nation, SCP and more to honour the past through preserving traditi
Themes
Zero Waste Craft
The circularity and sustainability of craft practices is key to many of the exhibitors in the show. Textile artist Caroline
Hyde-Brown will be exhibiting works made from bio-materials, hand-woven and embroidered pieces made from
foraged materials like lichen, hemp, flax and grasses.
Bristol-based metalworker Willow Bloomfield is exhibiting a new series of vessels made from 100% recycled copper,
largely sourced from old hot water tanks, using a process of electrolysis typically associated with industrial practices in precious metal recycling and refinement.
Represented by QEST at Craftworks, Lulu Harrison is a glass artist based between Oxford and London. As a
researcher and maker in sustainable material development, she creates glass artefacts inspired by primitive glass
making and in the ‘Thames Glass’ series she’ll be exhibiting at Craftworks, uses salvaged glass and waste materials
sourced in and around the River Thames.
Craftworks will also play host to a ‘Zero Waste Crafting’ panel event as part of the talks line-up, discussing the
importance of global responsibility and circularity in making practices.
Access To Craft
Craftworks seeks to disrupt public perception of the craft industry, platforming untold stories and talent that has
traditionally been sidelined. Over 100 makers comprise the exhibitors at Craftworks, and through their diversity the
show demonstrates that craft is an industry for people of all backgrounds, abilities, ages and identities.
Craftworks is partnering with The Black Artisans and will play host to an exhibition of their latest photo project of
twelve Black Artisans across the UK, photographed at work in their studios which seeks to make visible Black Artisans
and to enlighten, educate and inspire people and in particular young people to explore these areas as a potential
career path
The Craftworks talks programme line-up will include a panel presented by Founder of The Black Artisans project, Jo
Sealy, and also a talk chaired by Jay Blades titled ‘How Craft Made Me’ – featuring a panel of exhibitors from the show
who have navigated difficult times in their lives with craft.
Features
Craft Really Works
A feature showcase of craft as an activity for the wellbeing of society, Craft Really Works is a collection of projects and
approaches from all parts of the UK that are focussed on the positive side effects of craft and making.
The exhibition will include pieces from more than 10 different projects, including Fine Cell Work, a UK- based
rehabilitation charity and social enterprise which makes beautiful handmade products in British prisons; Art At Work,
a Community Interest Company who offer arts activities as a means of promoting good mental health; and Mud Gang
Pottery a female-led ceramics studio, on a mission to make clay activities accessible to everyone.
Crafting Futures
Craftworks will play host to an education morning on the Friday of the show to inspire young people from all backgrounds into a career in craft. We’ll be working with several craft-focused universities to invite students to attend, and that morning’s on stage talks line-up will be tailored to suit them. Craftworks aims to create a legacy of supporting up-and-coming talent and be a vital maker-led point of connection between apprentices and apprenticeships.
The Red List
Heritage Crafts, the national charity for traditional heritage crafts which works in partnership with the Government is hosting a showcase of some of the craft skills which are in danger of becoming extinct in the UK. Visitors to Craftworks can explore institutions including Whitchurch Silk Mill (the oldest working silk mill in Britain), the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, and straw hat maker Lucy Barlow, who is the current holder of the President’s Award for Endangered Crafts, with an aim to work towards a healthy and sustainable framework for the future of these heritage craft skills.
Talks
Craftworks will play host to three full days of cutting-edge craft conversations and topical talks from industry leaders
and the country’s finest makers. From future-facing talks on how AI will revolutionise the craft industry, to galvanising
events on what we can do to save the endangered crafts on the Red List – attendees will hear from thought leaders,
journalists, CEO’s of Britain’s biggest craft companies and trend analysts.
Nicola and Chris Cox, co-founders of Cox London and Craftworks’ headline sponsor, will join a stellar line-up of
industry experts and global craft business leaders from Soane, Timorous Beasties and more on the talks
programme, sharing their insights and passion for preserving the British craft industry.
Speakers will include Jay Blades MBE, Crafts magazine editor Debika Ray, QEST CEO Deborah Pocock, technologist
Jude Pullen and presenter and ceramics conservator Kirsten Ramsey.
Fortnum & Mason, sponsors of the Assembly space at the show, will also host a panel, chaired by Jay Blades, of
some of Britain’s most accomplished designers and craftspeople who are all part of their ‘Fortnum & Makers’
exhibition at their flagship Piccadilly store.
