About

This panel discussion explores how developers, architects and craftsmen can work together to create unexpected results, commissioning craft so it is woven into buildings by initiating dialogue early in the build process.

Craft is about quality of thinking and requires a dynamic process of material enquiry. In the built environment, craft is often seen as embellishment, but it can transform our spaces by bringing the agility of hand and mind to the fore, challenging us to re-engage with our material reality.

In an economy of the cheap and disposable, the long-lasting value of craft reaches beyond fads to lend buildings distinctive character. The need to realise the benefits of well-crafted spaces has become all the more pressing as we are urged to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic. But what if we set out instead to always build better, by developing spaces that celebrate our innate human connection with craft skills and traditions?

Join us to hear Adriana Paice Kent, director of Woven Spaces, and Katerina Dionysopoulou, director at Bureau de Change, discuss their work on The Gaslight Building in Fitzrovia, a mixed-use development that has craftsmanship woven throughout. They are joined by Yelena Ford, managing director of The New Craftsman and Debika Ray, a freelance journalist and contributing editor of Crafts Magazine – who will chair the event – to explore the commercial value and transformative potential of embedding craft into the fabric of our built environment.

The ticket includes a signature cocktail created by the team at Pan Pacific London.