London Craft Week 2020: what to see and buy among 250 events across the capital this week
London Craft Week launches today and offers the opportunity to find something special for your home, with more than 250 events across London involving 350-plus makers.
There are in-person exhibitions showing real objects to see and buy, as well as online options for those not able to get out and about.
Sarah Myerscough Gallery in Barnes taps into the current preoccupations with our homes and with nature in The Natural Room. Pieces are made from slow-grown, organic materials such as wood, jute, sisal, willow and stoneware, which are tactile, sensuous and often sweet smelling.
There’s willow seating by Laura Bacon, anthropomorphic sisal benches and tables by Fernando Laposse, sinuous wooden tile screens by Wycliffe Stutchbury and extraordinary wooden vessels by Nic Webb and Ernst Gamperl. The show is supplemented with a series of in-person maker talks.
This emphasis on the natural and the home is continued in Material Conversations at jaggedart gallery in Marylebone, including Maria Wojdat’s brilliantly coloured ceramics, and at Maud & Mabel in Hampstead, with an exhibition of Jack Doherty’s black soda-fired functional tableware from today until October 5, followed from October 6 by Yoko Ozawa’s creamy white teapots.
Japan also features at the new art, craft and design gallery SoShiro in Marylebone, with furniture and accessories made by the Ainu people of northern Japan.
Down the road at The New Craftsmen, interior designers create rooms based on new pieces by makers, such as Gareth Neal’s Stitched Cabinet, an ash sideboard with hand-braided panels by textile artist Aimee Betts.
At Future Icons in Burlington Arcade you can book slots with any of the 12 makers, who work in wood, clay, metal and textiles. London Craft Week’s own exhibition, 300 Objects, at Quadrant Arcade in St James’s, includes Faye Toogood and Charlotte Kidger.
There are bookable guided walking tours of participating districts, pre-bookable tours of Cockpit Arts Deptford and a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust trail of work. Workshops range from the in-person, by textile maker Emily Jo Gibbs at Craft Central, to virtual talks from Goldsmiths’ Fair.
Create Day is on October 10, with makers sharing four-minute films. From daybreak in Asia, the films will build up as day dawns in Europe and then the US, supplemented with a live stream each hour. Participants include Tom Dixon, Thomas Heatherwick and a host of international makers.
All the galleries are free entry, but some require pre-booking to ensure social distancing. Check the London Craft Week website for each event and to make bookings.
London Craft Week, from today until October 10.