A Look Back at 2020
As we come to the end of an extraordinary year, we want to thank you for your continued support and collaboration. In these challenging times, it’s been particularly rewarding and inspiring to see such a rich and diverse range of exceptional skill and talent come together, and we are grateful to all those who made this happen.
London Craft Week was founded to give an opportunity for established and emerging craftspeople to share their stories alongside each other, allowing the unsung artists, makers and brands as much sunlight as the world-famous names. So we were really delighted that, not only were we still able to put on our London festival this year, but we also launched Create Day – a new international initiative designed to celebrate creativity in all its forms.
“Well before Covid-19, we had become somewhat isolated from each other, too busy, too narrow-focused. Yet there has never been more creativity, imagination and talent. Or people who appreciate it. In that sense, despite so much uncertainty, I believe we live in auspicious times.” – Guy Salter, Chairman, London Craft Week
Take a look below to discover some of the highlights from 2020.
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300 Objects was a new physical and virtual exhibition that launched during London Craft Week 2020. Situated in a flagship space on Regent Street and supported by St James’s, it featured an array of exceptional talent, from well-known artist-makers to those yet to be discovered – and all the works were for sale. Find out more about the exhibition and meet the makers and curators here.
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Create Day, a new initiative presented by the team behind London Craft Week, featured 24 hours of non-stop human ingenuity live on 10 October 2020; an opportunity to pause, appreciate beauty and applaud the talent in our midst. You can still access exclusive content from makers, designers and creators from across the globe, available to watch now on createday.org.
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British fashion designer Anya Hindmarch’s bespoke Maud clutches are a celebration of craftsmanship. Famously used by Princess Diana, who jokingly referred to them as her ‘cleavage bags’, these little satin clutches came in useful when she stepped out of cars. In this film, see how the iconic Maud is made.
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Renowned milliner Noel Stewart has created headwear for the likes of Mulberry, Erdem, Hermès, Givenchy Haute Couture and Valentino, elevating hats to high fashion with his dramatic catwalk creations. For Create Day, he spoke with milliner Leo Carlton about how working with one’s hands can foster a sense of wellbeing.
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Abiola Onabule’s garments are inspired by her Nigerian heritage, taking cloth that holds sentimental significance and incorporating it into her designs. This film shows the Aso Oke cloth from Abiola’s time visiting the weavers in her family’s home town of Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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Tsuchida Shuzo Sake Brewery is situated in Kawaba, a small village in Gunma, a mountainous region northwest of Tokyo. Established in 1907, learn how this sixth-generation brewery’s sake is low intervention, spontaneous and unprocessed, incorporating local unpolished rice and Japanese koji.
Explore More Create Day Highlights
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A Few 2021 Dates for Your Diary
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust will be accepting new applications for funding between 11 January and 15 February 2021. Talented and aspiring candidates can apply for up to £18,000 to further their education through traditional college courses, vocational training, apprenticeships or one-to-one training with master craftsmen. For further details and to apply visit qest.org.uk.
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Join the Natural History Museum in 2021 as they debate why and how our relationship with the natural world needs to change. This free, evolving display of 40 objects chosen by Museum scientists reveals the consequences of our actions and examines the solutions that could help mend our broken planet. The display, which opens on 25 January, will unfold in three stages across the year, with each section exploring a new theme.
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London Craft Week returns to the capital for its seventh edition from 10-16 May 2021 with a programme of events celebrating exceptional creativity and craftsmanship from around the world. If you are a brand or independent maker who would like to be involved, click here for more information about the festival and details of how to apply.
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Having been postponed for 2020, the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize will take place in Spring 2021 with an ethos of renewed creativity and optimism. The fourth edition will bring together a diverse array of objects that embody a commitment to experimentation, recognising artists whose talent, vision and innovation promise to set a new standard for the future.
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The new year promises a return to travel – and we’re eager to visit Venice for the 2021 edition of Homo Faber from 9-26 September. The fair will be shining a light on the living treasures of Europe and Japan, with 15 exhibitions showcasing master artisans and exceptional objects curated by a team of world-class experts. While in Italy visit Salone del Mobile in Milan from 5-10 September.
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Join us again for Create Day and engage with over 300 artists, makers, designers and creators in real time across the globe. Keep your eyes peeled for our January newsletter where we’ll be announcing the date for 2021 and information about how to apply. In the meantime, visit our social media profile @createday2020 and follow our hashtags #CreateDay #CreativeHeroes to discover the movement.
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LCW Picks: 5 Makers to Know for 2021
Joao Maraschin is a London-based Brazilian designer who established his eponymous brand in 2020.
Community and craftsmanship are at the centre of Joao’s practices and values. This ethos is based on supporting handmade techniques like crochet and embroidery, as well as working with new discoveries in raw materials, looking at circularity, waste, purpose and human centred design.
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Soledad Christie has lived in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, for almost 30 years. Surrounded by a vast and amazing landscape, she connects with the ancient local craft of pre-Columbian pottery.
Soledad makes one-of-a-kind handbuilt, sculptural vessels using the traditional techniques of pinching, coiling and paddling. Her work seeks to express the intuitions and sensations of inhabiting the vast Atacama Desert and Altiplano territory.
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Lani Adeoye is an artist-designer, driven by conceptual curiosity and cultural expression coupled with a thirst for innovation. Her practice, Studio-Lani, creates sculptural lighting and furniture pieces that express an organic rhythm and a sense of visual harmony.
Driven by handmade craftsmanship and cultural preservation, her pieces celebrate West African elegance with a contemporary sensibility. As a conscious design studio, she works closely with various artisans in Nigeria and strives to positively impact the community.
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Sne Tak is a London-based interdisciplinary designer with a focus on innovative knit and sustainable materials. She has cultivated an artistic identity of merging high technology and archaic organic forms, challenging preconceptions of materiality and examining the potential of knitted textiles.
Her unique and adaptable knitted vessels are drawn from a nomadic upbringing between cultures.
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Mac Collins is an emerging British designer and maker, committed to creating experimental, hand crafted furniture and objects.
Alongside his material driven approach, Mac brings personal and cultural narratives into his work. As a designer of dual heritage, celebrating both his European and Caribbean lineage, he uses his design practice to explore his own identity, creating pieces in response to issues such as African Diaspora and the slave trade.
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We wish you and your loved ones a very happy festive season and look forward to seeing you again in 2021.
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