Maker's Eye: Stories of Craft

'Maker’s Eye: Stories of Craft' is the first exhibition in the new Crafts Council Gallery. It celebrates the breadth, diversity and qualities of craft, and includes numerous craft objects made in the UK over the course of the last 50 years.

This exhibition was curated with 13 makers, putting their diverse views on craft and making at its centre. Each of the maker-selectors have work in the Crafts Council Collections. Together, they represent a cross-section of craft interests, disciplines, career stages and models of practice. They were asked to select up to 15 objects in response to the brief: “What does craft look like and mean to you?”.

In summer 2020, curator Dr Christine Checinska was invited to consider what was missing. Her selection of works by contemporary makers plays tribute to the founding ethos of the collection – to document innovative practice by emerging makers. 

After a year during which craft became ever more present in our lives and more of us turned to craft as a source of solace and activity during the pandemic, then this dazzling array of more than 150 craft objects and the multiple viewpoints on craft and its meaning, could not be more timely.

The Crafts Council Gallery opened in July 2021, the year the Crafts Council celebrates its 50th anniversary, and is one of the few public galleries in the UK dedicated exclusively to contemporary craft and making.

The Gallery is located in a Grade-II listed chapel on Pentonville Road in London, that has been transformed to provide a multi-use space for exhibitions, education, and events. Admission to the Gallery is free. It is a welcome and open space for collaboration, discussion and co-creation with craft makers, the creative community, local residents and families, and anyone with an interest in finding out more about craft.

The Crafts Council Gallery is open Wednesday - Saturday from 11am - 5pm.