London Craft Week 2024 returns for its 10th edition, taking over the UK capital with over 500 events dedicated to showcasing the creativity and skill of designers, artists and makers. Exhibitions animate galleries, historic spaces and shops, and workshops and talks aim to champion and share the craft of talent. While the week celebrates London as a thriving centre of craftspeople and creative activity, it also showcases the global diversity of making. Here are some highlights of the week.
London Craft Week takes place 13–19 May across London. For the full programme visit londoncraftweek.com
London Craft Week 2024: explore the highlights
Trace at Mint
Mint, Transcending Mesh to Matter by Ralf Gloudemans
In Marylebone, design gallery Mint hosts the exhibition Trace, bringing together established and emerging designers whose work explores material and process in often unexpected ways – including Max Lipsey, IAMMI, Simone Post, Christophe Delcourt and Ralf Gloudemans. Gloudemans’ ceramic vessels in the Transcending: Mesh to Matter series result from 3D mesh structures generated using virtual reality, blending traditional craftsmanship with innovative technology. IAMMI’s Frankenstein collection uses industrial foam scraps to create furniture pieces in the form of abstract shapes. Max Lipsey’s minimalist Temper Pendant light, meanwhile, is made from tempered steel – in which the metal is heated at very high temperatures to create an iridescent finish.
3 - 5 Duke Street, W1U 3ED
mintgallery.co.uk
Beyond the Loom
The enduring influence of Sadu traditional weaving from Kuwait is celebrated at this showcase within the Embassy of Kuwait. Presented by AlSadu Society, Beyond the Loom: Contemporary Expressions of Sadu sees the craft – an embroidery defined by hand-woven geometric shapes which emerged from Bedouin desert communities across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – translated into applications across contemporary design, including furniture, fashion and decorative objects. Sadu, which has long harnessed natural fibres found in the local natural environment of the weavers, is inscribed on the Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage list; initiatives such as these hope to keep the regional craft alive into the future.
Kuwait Embassy in London, 2 Albert Gate, SW1X 7JU
alsadu.org.kw
Future Icons Selects
Daniel Hayden furniture
Following its debut in 2023, the Future Icons Selects fair is back for a second year, filling Oxo Tower Wharf’s Bargehouse with over 50 designers, artists and craftspeople who display the impressive breadth of form that contemporary craft can take. Work on show spans homeware, textiles, jewellery, lighting, furniture, ceramics and more. Exhibitors include Daniel Hayden, who makes pleasingly chunky wooden furniture in organic shapes, and Meseme, a lighting studio led by Riya Panchal that produces emotionally informed pieces blending industrial and modernist references.
B C Joshua, Pompi Lamps and Bridge Bench
Meanwhile, the furniture of B C Joshua sparks delight and intrigue as weighty-looking blocks – in fact made from recycled paper mixed with salvaged plasterboard – combine with playful seating and lighting elements.
Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Barge House St, SE1 9PH
futureicons.co.uk
Maker, Material and Method at Pophams
Grace McCarthy
Pophams Home, the homeware arm of the popular London bakery Pophams, presents the work of seven local makers – including Rebecca Morris and Grace McCarthy – who embrace hand-made and slow design approaches. The one-off pieces on show in Islington emerge from a range of methods and mediums, including ceramics, woodworking and textile art. On Thursday 16 May, the makers will offer demonstrations of their craft.
Pophams Home & Pantry, 19 Prebend Street, N1 8PF
pophamshome.com
Toast Presents New Makers
Fashion brand Toast, which runs an annual programme supporting international emerging makers, hosts an exhibition of unique pieces from this year’s cohort, alongside a series of demonstrations and workshops. Work on show includes white oak baskets woven by Amy Krone, experimental ceramic tableware from Polly Liu, hand-blown glass vessels by Rosie Stonham, minimal wooden furniture designed by Will Nock, and decorative stoneware by Kate Semple.
Toast Mayfair, 25–26 Dering Street, W1S 1AT
toa.st
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Time, beauty, history – all are written into trees in Karimoku Research Center's debut Tokyo exhibitionThe layered world of forests – and their evolving relationship with humans – is excavated and reimagined in 'The Age of Wood', a Tokyo exhibition at Karimoku Research Center
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Tour Xi'an's remarkable new 'human-centred' shopping district with designer Thomas HeatherwickXi'an district by Heatherwick Studio, a 115,000 sq m retail development in the Chinese city, opens this winter. Thomas Heatherwick talks us through its making and ambition
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Vans’ West End store turns skatepark, with a 200 sq m travertine rampPart store, part community hub, Vans West End in London ramps up its skateboarding credentials with a design by Andrea Caputo Studio
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‘I began experimenting and haven’t really stopped,’ Miranda Keyes on working with glassIn a rapidly changing world, the route designers take to discover their calling is increasingly circuitous. Here we speak to Miranda Keyes about her forging her own path to success
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Feldspar makes its mark on Whitehall with a festive pop-up at Corinthia HotelDevon-based bone china brand Feldspar makes its first foray into shopkeeping with a pop-up at London’s Corinthia Hotel. Ali Morris speaks with the founders and peeks inside
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One to Watch: EJM Studio’s stool is inspired by the humble church pewEJM Studio’s ‘Pew’ stool reimagines the traditional British church seating with a modern, eco-conscious twist
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One to Watch: Family Project’s ‘furniture friends’ are elegant and humorous with lasting emotional valueFamily Project, founded by Francesco Paini, is a London-based design practice drawn to human connection, creating portraiture through furniture and injecting artful expressions into interior spaces
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Martino Gamper creates a joyful tapestry of colour, pattern and eras in an immersive showcase'I'm always interested in what is considered kitsch, what is considered contemporary, what is ugly, what is beautiful—it's a subtle line'. Martino Gamper‘ presents 'Before; After & Beyond’
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Pierre Jeanneret’s Chandigarh furniture meets South Asian diasporic art in an unusual London exhibitionRajan Bijlani opens a show combining Pierre Jeanneret furniture for the Indian city of Chandigarh with works for sale by six artists of South Asian origin – in his own London townhouse
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Mud celebrates turning 30 with a new Islington storeTo celebrate its 30th anniversary Mud opens a new Islington store, showcasing its Australian ceramics where beautiful design meets utility
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PAD London’s 16th edition is a blisteringly optimistic case for human achievementAt PAD London, collectible design is more than rarefied furniture; it is a compelling case for the uplifting power of craftsmanship at the dawn of the AI revolution
