A Home from Home

After nearly 40 years in Clerkenwell London, Craft Central which has been supporting craftsmanship and makers studios in this prime location, will be closing its doors. It will soon be reborn after taking a 20-year lease on a historic building, The Forge, on the Isle of Dogs in E14.

They will be moving in the summer of 2017.

Above: Craft Central’s Clerkenwell galleries and studios above.

 

For their final show at Clerkenwell some 51 exhibitors were showing in their studios and another 50 in the public spaces. Some of the studio holders have been with them for over 30 years; each studio has become a fully personalised home from home. The open studio weekend allows makers to meet the public; they love to talk to visitors about their work, and the materials and techniques they use. The galleries on the ground floor gave makers a central London venue, if they were tenants or from the regions.

 

Above: Anna Barlow

 

Above: Helen Evans

 

Amongst the labyrinthine corridors, up and down some five floors, I was able to stumble across ceramic makers producing a diverse range of work including: Anna Barlow, Tamsin Arrowsmith-Brown, Janet Stahelin Edmondson, Sally McGill, Olivia McGill, Clara Castner, Remy Dubibe, Chinoko Sakamoto, Yuta Segawa and Helen Evans.

 

Above: Yuta Segawa

 

One of the strengths of Craft Central has been a family atmosphere between the makers, and the cross-over influence of such a diverse range of work being produced.

 

Above: Tamsin Arrowsmith Brown

 

Click here to view a video of some of Craft Central’s ceramic makers.

We wish them well in their new home. More information will soon be available on their website.