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London Craft Week invites you to its second Craft Symposium, hosted by V&A South Kensington. Leading voices from the worlds of craft, fashion, performance and art bring their perspective on the value of craft today. Sessions include:

Crafting Performance, Performing Craft
Discover how performance can both benefit from and inspire a deeper appreciation for craft with speakers Alberto Cavalli (Executive Director Michelangelo Foundation), Catherine Martin (four-time Oscar winner for Costume and Set Design), and Sophie Lambe (Theatrical Milliner for Film and TV), led by Camilla Frances (Digital Editorial Director, Cabana Magazine).

Craftland: a journey through Britain’s lost arts and vanishing trades with James Fox
Britain used to be called ‘the workshop of the world’, at one point producing a staggering 43% of the planet’s total manufactured exports. James Fox has spent the last three years travelling the British Isles in search of the country’s manufacturing heritage. In this talk he’ll describe some of the nation’s endangered crafts, from tanning and bell-founding to wheelwrighting and watchmaking.

The Renaissance of Material Craft in Fashion
What is the role of craft in the future of luxury? We often talk about the savoir faire of a product, but the expertise and skill required to create materials for the luxury sector are equally important. How do people understand the value of the materials in what they are buying? With quality perceived to be declining and prices rising, the panel will discuss what they consider to be the key drivers for the sector going forward and the role of craft within this, addressing topics including quality, sustainability and material innovation. Speakers include LVMH Métiers d’Art CEO, Matteo De Rosa, Liberty Retail Managing Director, Sarah Coonan and V&A Senior Fashion Curator, Sonnet Stanfill, led by Kati Chitrakorn, Luxury Consultant to the FT and Style Editor for CNN.

Holy Sheet: Artist Talk with Elliot Walker
Elliot will be talking about the importance of traditional sheet glass making as a craft and how he intends to use and explore the process, physically and conceptually in his work. The Heritage Craft Association has placed traditional stained glass window making on its Red List of Endangered Crafts and Elliot Walker is one of the key makers fighting for its survival.

In tandem with the on-site event, it is possible to book onto a live stream of the Symposium here.