Collect 2018: The Lowdown

Craft is having a major moment.

Just ask Rosy Greenlees, the Crafts Council’s Executive Director. “Craft has seen a great surge in its popularity, from knitting circles and craftivism through to the use of craft skills in science and technology,” she says. “The recession has encouraged people to look for fulfilment beyond fast fashion and consumerism and craft values speak to that.”

This February, the Crafts Council presents the UK’s largest showcase of global craft. Collect takes place between 22 and 25 February and gathers 400 artists from 13 countries around the world to present the most cutting-edge examples of contemporary craft.

Filling the entire Saatchi Gallery, Collect presents an assortment of work spanning the spectrum of modern craft practice; ranging from innovative studio pottery to bold, large-scale installations that push material boundaries and explore pressing social and environmental themes. The show encompasses multiple disciplines and exhibits include jewellery, textiles, ceramics, furniture, metalsmithing, and glass; as well as presenting work in highly specialist areas such as bookbinding, and unusual materials including paper, willow, vellum and lacquer.

Below we round up some of the highlights.

Exhibitors

Recent Winner of the Woman’s Hour Craft Prize Phoebe Cummings, who typically works in unfired clay, will be exhibiting with Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections, alongside her co-finalist, the vellum sculptor Laura Youngson Coll, known for her sculptural explorations of human biology at a microscopic level.

European glass is especially well represented, with London Glassblowing Gallery showing the work of nine of Britain's most highly respected glass-blowing artists, including world-renowned glassblower Peter Layton and newcomer Monette Larsen, winner of the London Glassblowing Emerging Talent Prize. Elsewhere, Vessel Gallery brings a survey of leading contemporary glass from Europe and the UK and US producer Bullseye Projects presents a wide-ranging selection of kiln-blown pieces.

London-based gallery Ting-Ying marks its first Collect appearance with a collection of contemporary Blanc de Chine pieces made in China’s Dehua County, Fujian Province, whereas Milan’s ESH Gallery debuts with a showcase of contemporary Japanese artists, including Yoichiro Kameim, one of the youngest ever winners of the Grand Prize at the Asahi Ceramics Fair.

Collect Open

Collect Open shines a light on individual makers, providing them with a platform to break outside the usual constraints of their practice, creatively experiment and present exceptional new works at a much larger scale. Collect Open 2018 presents the work of 14 makers selected by designer Jay Osgerby alongside Annabelle Campbell, the Crafts Council’s Head of Exhibitions and Collections, and Julia Ravenscroft, a Project Curator at the Crafts Council.

Collect Spotlights

Collect Spotlights gives five galleries the opportunity to create dedicated displays to experiment-driven work by individual artists. Selected galleries for 2018 are  Designer Bookbinders, jaggedart, Ting-Ying, Vessel Gallery and Tansey Contemporary.

Masters of British Studio Pottery.

Masters of British Studio Pottery offers a unique insight into the story of modern ceramics in Britain, and a unique opportunity to purchase work by the key figures involved. The exhibition has been curated by the Crafts Council and features work by some of the most significant and influential ceramic artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Collect Talks

A three-day programme of talks will see leading international voices from the worlds of craft, design, art, architecture and fashion explore the evolving role of craft in all sectors of society. Speakers include Sebastian Cox, Phoebe Cummings, Piet Stockmans, Ineke Hans and Peter Ting.